Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I will start with the Deputy's final question because Tallaght Hospital is situated in my constituency. Tallaght Hospital lost the children's hospital and is not one of the designated cancer centres. There are world class experts working at the hospital and a huge volume of their activity revolves around cancer care. I refer to people such as Professor Conlon, Dr. Geraghty, an expert breast surgeon, Mr. McDermott, etc. I was due to meet these individuals at 6 p.m. but that meeting had to be postponed as a result of this debate. I hope they will work at one of the other designated centres in the Dublin area. Tallaght and St. James's are teaching hospitals for Trinity College. They have very close working relationships on which I hope they can build.

With regard to the north west, Letterkenny, as a result of peripherality and geographical issues, was the only exception on critical mass in terms of numbers. Essentially, it will be a satellite unit of the centre in Galway. It will not be a stand-alone facility. The facility will operate in Letterkenny once it meets quality assurance criteria. No one in Letterkenny or County Donegal in general would want to be treated in a hospital which did not live up to the highest standards as far as quality is concerned. We have, therefore, made an exception for reasons of geography and peripherality.

We originally purchased some radiotherapy services from Belfast City Hospital. Patients from County Donegal have been using that service for the past year. However, the take-up is small and the numbers involved are not huge. At a recent meeting Northern Ireland's Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Mr. McGimpsey, and I engaged in a very good discussion on the possible provision of a facility at Altnagelvin. The Northern Ireland authorities have not yet made a formal decision but Mr. McGimpsey was extremely positive in respect of it. We would, in turn, be positive in supporting such a development because the necessary critical mass would be created in a cross-Border catchment area to justify the establishment of a state-of-the-art radiotherapy facility as a satellite of the centre in Belfast. I made it clear to Mr. McGimpsey, as I did to the group I met yesterday, that the Government would strongly support a cross-Border initiative of that nature, either financially — in the context of the capital equipment aspect — or by procuring services on behalf of patients. We await further developments in this regard.

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