Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I think we would all like that to come to pass. I will stay on the south east, given Mr. Gloster mentioned it. The reconfiguration of the new RHAs is welcome. The more quickly we can get them to coherently shadow the CHOs in order that we will get that linkage of services, the better. Under the reconfiguration, however, Limerick hospital anchors the mid-west, which has the smallest population by far among the regions, Galway hospital anchors the north west, Cork hospital anchors the south west but in the south east, we have to refer all the way to St. Vincent's hospital in Dublin. I know the decision was made in 2019 but we have a model for a hospital in Waterford. We have a population of 600,000 who live within an hour of that hospital, which is in excess of the population that relates to the mid-west. Who made the decision in 2019, and why was it made, not to build the south-eastern regional health area around Waterford and adequately resource UHW to be able to answer the health needs of the region?