Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I will be brief. Thank you, Chair, and I thank Mr. Fitzgerald again for his reply. My fear is that while everything looks very well in plans and on paper, Mr. Fitzgerald said the services are consultant-led. We have problems with recruitment of consultants and so on at the moment. My biggest fear, therefore, is that east Cork will lose its vital services and that the HSE is trying to fix something that is not broken. Now we realise we will not even have something to fix and the people of east Cork will be left behind. I understand the role and the model the HSE must follow but my point is that we have lost that vital service in Midleton and it is not coming back. Anyone who wants to access those services in the east Cork area will now have to go into the city or north Cork. If that is a good model and practice, we are in trouble and we will be in trouble in the future. I am disappointed. You do not get everything you want every day but I thank Mr. Fitzgerald for his honesty and the reply to my contribution. The people in Midleton and east Cork need to know that that centre will close and that that respite care is gone.

Thank you, Chair, for your patience.