Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am based in Donegal. I am delighted to be a member of the health committee. There are many issues in rural areas that need to be sorted out. Coming from a rural community, it seems to me that everything is centred around the big centres in Galway or Dublin. Rural GP services are a big problem with us. Regarding cancer services, people need to get on a bus in Inishowen and travel maybe four or five hours to Galway to get cancer treatment. Letterkenny general hospital needs to be upgraded to a high standard. One of my biggest bugbears is with the ambulance service. Coming from a rural community, I recognise our ambulance service is just not working for us in rural parts of Donegal. We also seem to be left behind in that.

Transplants are a subject very close to my heart. We need to put a different focus on getting transplants for people. My wife has been waiting for four years for a kidney and what a difference that would make in her life. It is things like that that I am trying to get sorted for rural communities.