Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I would love if we adopted the principle that nothing should change until better facilities have been put in place. However, the opposite experience has obtained and I ask the Minister to examine that position. There should be a public inquiry into what is going on, such is the current state of crisis. Half of the cases in Louth are coming to Dublin for major operations because there are no facilities in the north east for them. I welcome the proposed regional hospital, but when one has hospitals in Monaghan, Louth and Navan closing and pouring their patients into an already overcrowded facility at Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda, there is not much chance.

I will give a brief example. The paediatric protocol was implemented in Louth on 10 April 2005, meaning that no children could be treated in the accident and emergency department of Louth County Hospital. They too are now having to be admitted to it and then transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes, joining an already excessive queue for basic treatment. Someone must examine what is going on because I have no doubt that in future, when there is some scrutiny of this carry-on, we will be told that the authorities did not realise the seriousness of the situation. I put the Minister on notice that we are absolutely at crisis point and that it is unacceptable. I call on the Government to act once and for all. It is already too late, but it should nevertheless address the situation.

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