Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have heard about Clogheen again and Senator Murphy brought it up. As I said, Clogheen is 45 km from Carrick-on-Suir and Tipperary town is 61 km from Carrick-on-Suir. We are not like the big urban areas or cities where a person can jump on a bus or Luas tram. That creates problems. As Senator Craughwell said, we all have people who have received palliative care and it takes a few minutes to get to them. If someone living in a small town such as Carrick-on-Suir or the area covered by the town - south Kilkenny, north Waterford and south Tipperary - gets a phone call to say a loved one is on the way out, trying to travel 45 km or 60 km to reach the family member is like trying to reach the moon. There is a fear that family members are being moved so far away from family. We have heard so much in recent years about care in the community. One of the biggest problems with this closure is that it is the opposite of care in the community. I do not care what way the HSE, HIQA or the Minister for Health paint this decision, they may as well take everything as move a service that has served three counties 45 km or 60 km away.

An issue that continually arises, but has not been raised today, is that the dimensions of corridors have been deemed too narrow. Ms Killeen White did not mention corridors in her opening statement. We now hear the corridors are too narrow but the issue was not important enough to be included in the opening statement as one of the reasons used to close down the facility. Where is the report by an engineer or someone else stating the corridors were too narrow and widening them would give rise to massive expense?