Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

To cite the opinion that Cavan General Hospital has been viewed at any time as dysfunctional is unacceptable and outrageous. This further burdening of Cavan General Hospital will surely render it impossible for it to function properly. That is a by-product of the decision announced yesterday.

Is the Taoiseach aware that last evening there were 26 patients in the surgical ward of Monaghan General Hospital and that these were inpatients who stayed throughout last night? Does the Taoiseach envisage a situation whereby that or a comparable number presenting on any given day will be transported by ambulance from Monaghan General Hospital to Cavan General Hospital at 5 p.m. at the close of business in Monaghan General Hospital from 1 January next? Can even an extra 26 patients be accommodated in Cavan General Hospital as of 1 January? The Cavan-Monaghan hospital group manager, Chris Lyons, said it will take 12 to 18 months to kit out the new ward accommodation in Cavan General Hospital and for it to be up and running. Where will the 26 patients in Monaghan General Hospital be accommodated in the period up to when Cavan General Hospital will be ready to receive that number?

Is the Taoiseach aware that in recent days heavy fog and freezing conditions have made the journey time from Monaghan to Cavan much more difficult and that for people from north Monaghan in particular it will be impossible to reach Cavan within the critical hour in order that they are stabilised and properly seen to? What if the treatment room in Monaghan General Hospital——

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