Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. I was one of the TDs at their protest. I have been at every protest since and I will be at all the rest. At the end of May this year, I had a TIA. The one request I had from my own doctor was not to send me to UHL, so I went to Ennis. When I got to Ennis, they could not do all of the tests. There was one test they did not have the machine for so they had to send me back to UHL. I arrived back to UHL at 4.30 p.m. and I was put down as tier 3 and put in a seat. I was seen after an hour and a half and then they said they had to do the blood pressure or whatever and that a doctor wanted to see me. I said that was fine. That happened at 11 o'clock that night and then they said I was not going home and they were keeping me. I said that was fine. They asked if I would mind waiting in the waiting room. I went out to the waiting room and I waited. At 4.45 that morning I went to the reception and asked if I should go home and come back tomorrow. They said if I left I would have to start all over again. I told them I was going out to my car I was going to sit in the car. I gave them my number and said to call me because I could not stay sitting inside but I could not do that. Eventually, they gave me trolley. I think it was 7 o'clock in the morning. I was there for two days on the trolley.

I am very sorry to hear about Ms McMahon's husband. The presentation correctly said that policy is made here. The politicians who are here are the ones who have been fighting for the witnesses since day one but we do not have an overall majority. If we could, we would change it tomorrow morning. I am putting it back on the witnesses. When it comes to the next general election, they should look at the people who tried to change it for them, who will then become the policy makers the witnesses are looking for.

The problem at UHL started when it was made a centre of excellence. I remember as a young person going into Barrington's Hospital. I have been in St. John's and the hospitals in Ennis and Nenagh - all of the hospitals. They should never have closed the emergency services in those hospitals. I know that and we are fighting all the time to have them reopened. The CEO of the UHL appeared before this committee. When the Minister goes down, the hospital is notified and there is a quick clean up and a massaging of the figures, and he does not see anything wrong.

When the petitioner says that no politicians have responded, that is incorrect. Politicians have responded but the Government is the one making the decision for these hospitals. It is not just the witnesses' responsibility, it is our responsibility and that of every person in that region to make sure those policy makers are not returned the next time because they have failed to listen to the people in that region. If each of us was asked here whether we voted for them, people would say "Yes". I was one of them myself. I voted for them. Will I vote for them again? The answer is "No". Why? It is because they have never listened to the real problems and how to fix things. They have made a mistake and then tried to cover it up and patch it up rather than putting their hands up and saying they had made a mistake and should never have closed down emergency services and downsized those hospitals.