Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the context of all-island and east-west co-operation, there are bilateral agreements between hospitals and consultants may have personal relationships with their counterparts in Britain and Northern Ireland, but surely when we develop a national transplant centre, we should pool resources on an all-island basis. I acknowledge that the Mater hospital was built during the Famine of the 1840s and that we should have a statement of intent, but the greater good can suffer, even in the context of the national children's hospital. I am not denying all of the good that has been done, but we should consider the bigger picture.