Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)

I propose to share one minute of my time with my colleague from County Clare, Deputy Joe Carey. I am pleased to have the opportunity to raise this urgent issue. I was shocked to learn yesterday morning that the HSE had made a decision not to recommission the mammography unit at Ennis General Hospital following its closure last October. I am reliably informed that unit was fully installed and ready to be recommissioned. The problem with the service is simply that there was no consultant radiologist employed at the hospital who could and was willing to interpret and report on the mammograms.

Prior to the refurbishment, this work was carried out by the HSE in Limerick Regional Hospital, but the service was discontinued. Why was the HSE not up-front with the people of Clare before the election? Can the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, explain why this decision was made five weeks after the election? This is another example of the HSE policy of centralising health services with the approval of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats-Green Party Government.

In its press statement yesterday, the HSE said this decision would cause inconvenience for the women of Clare but that those in north Clare could avail of services in Galway rather than make the long journey to Limerick. Did the HSE give any consideration to the women of west Clare, who will have to travel up to 100 miles to avail of the new service? This morning I had a telephone call from a woman in Kilbaha in the west Clare peninsula who asked what she and others like her had done to deserve this. People elected this Government because its candidates told people before the election that there would be no downgrading of services at Ennis General Hospital. We have been conned.

I know of several women who have had to avail of a mammogram in the last year. A relative of mine who had a lump detected in her breast waited 12 months for an appointment after being sent for a mammogram by her GP. The stress that woman and her family had to endure for four weeks as they waited for the results was unbelievable. She is one of hundreds of women who must endure this agony each year.

Does the Minister of State realise that centralised health services lead to the creation of more queues, greater inconvenience and increased pain and stress for patients who must endure longer waiting lists? The lack of maternity and mammography services for women in Clare is a sign of what is to come from this new Fianna Fáil Government. It is an indication that other essential services at Ennis General Hospital must now be in doubt as we wait for another HSE review. These include the provision of a six-slice CAT scanner, although consultants say a 16-slice scanner is required, and, above all else, the future of 24-hour consultant-led accident and emergency services. There is no doubt that the Hanly proposals are alive and well and that the people of Clare are its first victims.

I ask the Minister of State not to turn his back on the people of Clare. I ask him to go back to the Minister, Deputy Harney, who holds the purse strings. She can reverse this decision of the HSE and restore the basic essential services to which we are entitled.

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