Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

They have come this far and to the best of my knowledge they have exhausted every avenue that was open to them. Listening to them might bring in extra work but if we start putting obstacles in front of community groups like the St. Brigid's hospital committee and the Owenacurra centre committee, we will finish up having nothing to do because no one in the public will have any faith that an issue will be dealt with in this committee. There will be a perception that we want to keep holding them off. The two hospitals in question are closing. St. Brigid’s hospital is closed and the Owenacurra centre is closing. Time is of the essence. There are 11,000 people involved in the petition for St. Brigid'’s hospital, for example. They want this matter progressed and have signed a petition to get it in front of the committee. It has come through the secretariat to the members and we should afford them the opportunity to appear before us. Let us make the decision, bring in the HSE and members of the Joint Committee on Health and see where we go from there. We should not put obstacles in the way of any group just because it might create extra work for members, who are elected representatives.