Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Deputy Smith and go back to the outset and the mention of Tom Conaghan, a great Donegal man and politician in his own right. Services in Donegal have been very well looked after in the past and I certainly look forward to that continuing. The presentation mentioned the services that exist between Donegal and Altnagelvin. I am aware of patients whose lives were saved as a result of the service provided at that location. With regard to the radiotherapy services, however, there was political intervention here and there along the way that gave an aura that the priority of Altnagelvin was to deal with patients on a northern basis. There is certainly a feeling that patients south of the Border are playing second fiddle.

Moreover, I encourage what Deputy Smith has said on the shared-island funding. I think the Taoiseach is on record as saying quite an amount of funding is there now and there are several issues all along the Border where deficits exist. Has CAWT examined possibilities or proposals for projects to tackle new issues that exist on the ground, such as accident and emergency services?

In this country, we are inclined to take an approach of centres of excellence. It is my opinion that all centres of excellence do not have to be in one location. It is about the disciplinary team. There is nothing stopping us having centres of excellence in Altnagelvin, Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan, Enniskillen, Daisy Hill, which I am told is also struggling, Dundalk and other locations all along the Border. There are massive possibilities.