Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is trying to fix a problem that does not exist. He talks about this in medical terms but, based on my understanding and my contacts with members of the medical community, doctors are not looking for this. He is trying to fix a problem that doctors do not have. He is giving the hospital the capacity to get itself into debt to borrow for equipment but he is unable to point to an example of a hospital that does not have this facility but cannot purchase equipment. Is he saying that hospitals without this equipment cannot purchase it or cannot be future-proofed? This is where my difficulty lies. First, I do not hold with the notion that hospitals will get themselves into debt in the first instance. Second, if doctors are not looking for it, and if the problem does not exist in terms of hospitals not being able to buy a photocopier or other equipment, the Minister of State is trying to fix a problem that does not exist. With respect, there are many problems that do exist that could be fixed.