Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I thank the Taoiseach for clarifying the extent of the required upgrade and the electrical rewiring that must take place. This exemplifies that there appears to be no synchronised plan at all for the training of staff or for the delivery of the dates of service. Neither is there any cohesion in terms of the approach to the management of trauma in this or other hospitals.

The Taoiseach has stated the scanner will be operational within a month, or 7 March. Will he confirm that the necessary staff are in place to run the service? I understand there is a shortage of approximately 15 to 20 radiographers in the Dundalk hospital, so are these people in place or have they been trained? I understand at least three consultant radiologists are required for 24-hour cover seven days a week. Are these people in situ to provide the service by 7 March? I understand that anaesthetic cover and nursing cover is also needed. Will the Taoiseach confirm that the necessary staff are in place to provide the service by 7 March, the date, he has stated, this machine will be operational? It appears as if the delivery of the promise, in so far as the purchase of the equipment is concerned, is the easiest part. That is what the Government has been doing for the past ten years in spending €60 billion, much of which was wasted, and now a €2 million machine lies idle in a laundry room.

Will the Taoiseach confirm that the training, the cohesion, the radiologists, the 15 to 20 radiographers, the anaesthetic cover and the nursing cover have been put in place to provide 24-hour cover seven days a week for the people of Dundalk and that part of the north east who have been obstructed and given an inferior service for so long, not only in this area but in others?

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