Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to speak. The motion has been tabled in the aftermath of the "Prime Time" programme which raised many very serious issues. As somebody who has had recourse to use the ambulance service on more than one occasion I must state my experience has been very positive and I compliment and pay tribute to the men and women who operate out of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

The practices in place in some of our hospitals mean ambulances travel massive distances of geographical terrain thanks to reconfiguration. The motion proposed by Fianna Fáil does not bemoan the fact it reconfigured the hospitals in the mid-west and left us with the system we have whereby huge distances are covered. Perhaps it should have used this opportunity to apologise but it did not.

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