Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On page 59 in the programme for Government the incoming Government promised to update the national eye care plan and also promised to evaluate the Sligo cataract surgery model, which had been raised in the talks for Government by the Rural Independent Group. I put it to the Taoiseach that the reality in the constituency of Cork South-West is that people are waiting years for cataract operations. These are the official figures. In sheer frustration and concern for our elderly who were going blind, and in some cases have gone blind, Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and I organised a bus to Kingsbridge Private Hospital for cataract surgery under the cross-Border directive. We thought we would shame the Government into action but we were wrong. I have called for an operating theatre to be opened in Munster in hospitals of excellence like Bantry or Mallow to carry out these simple procedures, which would prevent these elderly people having to travel to Belfast. On Sunday, 10 June bus No. 10 will travel to Belfast from west Cork and Kerry. I formally invite the Taoiseach, or any representative he wishes to send, to travel with us on bus No. 10 to see first hand what these people endure to get their cataract surgery outside the State.

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