Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their consistent advocacy on this issue, which is probably the biggest issue in the mid-west. They are right. Nobody in the mid-west has not been affected by the hospital there. I have been in the old accident and emergency department and the new one with a family member and I have been in an accident and emergency department in Dublin with a family member purely by accident when they became ill. There is a world of difference between the new accident and emergency department, which is going to solve all the problems, and the accident and emergency department in Tallaght University Hospital. There should not be a world of difference.

Every political party in the State claims to be republican in one way, shape or form and there have been many celebrations of 100 years of the Irish State and how great it is to be a republic. It is nonsense when there is such a gulf between hospital care in one part of the country and another. My son is not a first-class citizen and my parents were not second-class citizens. There is no such thing but that is what we have in this country. I listened to Deputy Higgins - and I do not want to make this about party politics - but which accident and emergency department would she like to reopen? Which one would she like to close in west Dublin? If Tallaght and Blanchardstown both closed or if Deputy Higgins was asked to choose-----