Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The witness is putting the cart before the horse here. At the press of a button the HSE can tell her how many patients from County Roscommon attend clinics on a particular week in Galway. The local co-ordinator cannot gather that information as easily as the NTA can do it as a national authority approaching each of the hospital groups. There is only a handful of such groups around the country. This is the fundamental problem. Everything is being pushed down to be dealt with at local level. Let the communities come up with something and the NTA will assist them with it. The National Transport Authority needs to grab the bull by the horns on this issue. It has been talked about for long enough. I am sick of coming to these committee meetings and hearing that it will be looked at and that it will be dealt with from the ground up. This is something that can be done from the top down. I am asking Ms Graham, following this meeting, to arrange a meeting with each of the hospital groups and to start that co-ordination from the top down. She can get the data on the number of appointments for the geographical locations within their catchment and see how services and appointments can be tweaked to facilitate the maximisation of the use of public transport.