Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The next time a pilot programme commences in the Department of Health and Children will the Tánaiste ensure it begins in the west rather than the east or wherever the Minister of the day is from? The west always has to wait and play second fiddle in respect of services. Someone such as Deputy McGinley must spend many nights in St. Luke's Hospital visiting sick patients from Belmullet, Castlebar and elsewhere. It is a long way from there to Dublin and the hospital is a lonely place. As a hospital, St. Luke's is well run and clean, but when people are five or six hours distant from their loved ones and their homes, it is not a nice place to be. I ask the Tánaiste and her Department to start the next pilot scheme in the west.

On the issue of BreastCheck, what aggravates people are political promises made by Governments. The Tánaiste has not been in the Department very long. She is saying the right things about BreastCheck and I hope she will do the right things. It is important that the Government commitment in this regard is rolled out nationally and that women will have the opportunity to be checked as swiftly as possible. As the Tánaiste has said, statistics have shown that these people can be treated and there is a good recovery of cancer patients. It is important that they are reached quickly.

In County Mayo, during a time when there was nothing like this in Ireland, women in the past could have a smear test in a hospital without an appointment. County Mayo has not had a smear clinic for the past three years. Will the Tánaiste and her Department examine why this is so if, in times when we did not have money or services and many people were sick, someone could go to a hospital to have a smear test?

In the Sacred Heart Home in County Mayo there are fully fitted-out rooms for hospice services. Over the past two or three years, the former Western Health Board and now the Health Service Executive advertised for a GP on five or six occasions, and I am not exaggerating. A service there was run by retired doctors. Everything worked well and everyone was happy but the health board stopped it for insurance or other reasons. The GP would take on the hospice unit and would be given part of a practice but no one will take up this offer. Will the Tánaiste examine this issue so that the funding will be put in place?

These doctors have cleaned up. We cannot give them enough money because they are being paid for the GMS and other schemes and it would be difficult for them to take on another, but I ask the Tánaiste to put a package in place that will make it acceptable for some doctor to take on this task. It is sad that people who wish to use a hospice to allow them to die in their own county must go to Roscommon or Galway when the beds and facilities are there and when the public subscribed with their own money. All that we need now is a GP to administer the hospice.

The Tánaiste has given a commitment on BreastCheck that I do not doubt but I want her commitment to be carried through. The only time women marched on the streets was when the Taoiseach felt the rap of the women of County Mayo when he went there before the last general election. It is not an exaggeration to say that 2,000 or 3,000 women protested when he visited the county. It was the only protest held in the whole country because we had been told how well it was all going. The women of Mayo came out to protect the cancer service in Mayo General Hospital. The Tánaiste is a woman and she respects the point of view of women. When women take on an issue, they will not give up. I call on the women of the west and those in parts of the country where BreastCheck is not available to get organised and to go out and protest. The Tánaiste has given a commitment to provide €21 million which is small money in the context of the overall health budget. It will take two years for BreastCheck to be available nationally.

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