Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I ask the Minister if that is true. Is she aware the capital building project for Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital has been put on hold? Talking about a new hospital for the north east is along the lines of building castles in the sky, when there are currently huge deficiencies in services in the north east. Talking about doing something for them in 15 years' time is absolute nonsense, when there are problems now in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Cavan General Hospital.

I will put a very important question to the Minister. I do not know if she is aware that Cavan General Hospital is subject to an absolute obligation to receive surgical transfers from Monaghan General Hospital. A problem which arose in the case of the death of Mr. Walsh was that nobody took responsibility for his transfer. If Cavan General Hospital is told it must now take every single patient from Monaghan, does the Minister know if restrictions still apply to surgeons in Cavan which preclude them from carrying out major GI surgery? There is no point in a patient having an absolute right to be transferred from Monaghan to Cavan when, upon arrival, he or she will not be operated on and no intensive care services will be available for them. That is the reality on the ground and those are the key questions I would like the Minister to answer.

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