Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

To use simpler language, funds should be directed towards the more effective services, home care being one. I would like to bring another matter home to Mr. Reid in Galway city. The committee has received correspondence from a consultant. It is unusual for consultants to go out on a limb, but this consultant has done so repeatedly. I will outline some figures which show that in the end the cost to the Exchequer is greater. The aforementioned consultant states there is a "catastrophic" - his word, not mine - waiting list of 2,000 patients which has been accumulating since the shortfall in infrastructure and that the situation is becoming unbearable for the patients who are on the waiting list and clinically worsening. I will not read the entirety of what he had to say, but Mr. Reid can have a copy of the letter, if he so wishes.

The hospital serves a region of almost 1 million people. Why do I mention that? Mr. Breslin spoke about answering parliamentary questions, which he does very efficiently, but some of them are redirected to various groups on the ground, including Saolta. I cannot make head nor tail of what they are telling me on this issue. Briefly, two operating theatres have ceased to exist. While the Government is talking about a rainy day fund, as a result of rain pouring in on two theatres in Galway, they were closed in 2017. We are now in 2019 and no modular theatres have been put in place. This is about infrastructure, decision making and accountability in the Department of Health. The Minister responded on 5 March that he understood the position of Saolta, but the reality was different. In a nutshell, it involved the procurement of two modular theatres. The procurement process was stopped when it was discovered very late in the process that planning permission was needed. That led to the aforementioned letter. Where is the oversight of the project by the Department?