Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

That is not a question. I am sorry; I am caught for time. A, B and C for me is irrelevant. I could have written what needs to be done here myself. In fact, I think everyone here could have written it, and colleagues here have said it. There is more or less a bit of unanimity across the mid-west and across politics on this issue. We all know we need more services out in the community. There is a huge issue in relation to the nursing homes, and we have a whole range of other issues. There are people being left in beds in hospitals for months because we have no space for them.

However, the bottom line here is this. I went to a HSE meeting before this report was published where I felt we were going to get what Ms Fitzgerald has there - options A and B. Some of my colleagues were at that meeting. Due to the political furore, C emerged. Let me be very clear about this - this all has to be done, and more. We have been discriminated against in the mid-west for the last 25 years. I am concerned about what Ms Fitzgerald said. I know she is not policy-driven, but I am concerned that she said that, potentially, if some decisions were made, they might displace other areas and it could create the bubble effect of issues in Cork or Galway. What about the 25 years of discrimination against us in the mid-west? My father said he did not want to go into UHL because he would never come out of it. He never did, by the way. He only came home to die. My wife went to Portlaoise because I rang and a HSE staff member said to go to Portlaoise when I got to the motorway instead of going to Limerick. We all know about all the public cases. Every one of my colleagues here knows all about them. We all know about the public cases and the issues inside the hospital.

There should have been one recommendation here. The 96-bed block is coming down the road. If we have to find a site where we are going to put 100 more beds or whatever, and that is fine, but a hospital has to damn well be put around it. A model 4 hospital will have to be put around it. I was in Wexford yesterday. Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford all have model 3 or model 4 hospitals. They are not the same populations, by the way. If we add in a bit of north Cork, we have probably a higher population. That is not even including south Tipperary, which would come within that catchment. Basically, we need a new hospital, and we need the work that is being done in relation to UHL as well and the stuff in the model 2 hospitals and in the communities. We need it all, and do you know what? We need to apologise to the people for the last 25 years. That is what we need. We do not need a report saying A, B and C. What Dr. Gerry Burke said a decade ago, for which he was ridiculed in the Dáil by the Taoiseach at the time even though he was damn well right, was correct except it has just got worse.

This is not the witnesses' fault. They were asked to do a job. However, it was a political decision. Politics is going to have to fix this. We cannot be another generation of Oireachtas Members who are actually going to sit and make the wrong decision. I will not tolerate it. I will fight with every fibre of my existence to make sure what I said happens, and the Government knows that. By the way, I am not alone. Colleagues here are with me. That is where we need to go. I would, therefore, like to find out about those costs, the man hours and all that sort of stuff.

The idea that we are going to have one accident and emergency department where everything is going to be filtered through in the short-to-medium term, potentially with 100 beds down the road or whatever, is fine. It is short term. We need a new maternity hospital. I was born in the bloody maternity hospital. My kids were born in it. If the witnesses went into it, they would see it has brilliant staff, but look at the state of it. We need a bit of ambition here. The problem here is we need a short- and medium-term solution, but we also need the ambition for the long term, and I feel that is not emphasised enough in what HIQA did because that has to happen. I will not tolerate it if it does not happen.

I will ask to things in relation to the report. First, how long did HIQA spend with the fire service in Limerick discussing the issues in relation to UHL? Was there a full audit done in relation to these issues? Second, how long did HIQA spend with all the consultants who told us in the noughties that this was the right thing to do to bring everything into Limerick and we would get the resources and buildings and everything? Did it talk to all the clinical leads and all the consultants who led the charge in the noughties? As far as I am concerned, I am sick and tired of it. Where are they now?

Did HIQA do a full fire audit?