Ms Magdalen Rogers:

That is an extremely tragic situation. It is, unfortunately, an experience where we will talk about lifting the lid. We have an advocacy initiative at the moment about regional neurology services and we are hearing those stories throughout. We just picked five hospitals in Ireland that do not have dedicated neurology services. There are more than that. Mayo happens to be one of them. We are getting those stories of people throughout Mayo. The Deputy says that someone is travelling to Sligo from Mayo. Even if they were getting the care, that is an unacceptable journey to be travelling. They are not even getting the care with that journey. The critical issue for the upcoming budget is that we have identified those five hospitals that critically need, and should have, a dedicated neurology service. All model 3 hospitals should have dedicated neurology services. It really is a postcode lottery - that term is used a lot - that Mayo does not have a neurology service. As I say, with this current advocacy campaign, we are hearing those stories of patients. I heard a story yesterday of a gentleman who has travelled to Dublin for 30 years. He has travelled to Dublin a number of times every year to see his neurologist over a 30-year period when he could be seen in his local hospital in Portlaoise, County Laois. The Deputy is describing Mayo. We hear similar stories, as Ms Flanagan has said, about people in Donegal who are not able to access neurology services. This is unacceptable in this day and age.