Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

Everyone has a different attitude to life and I always give people the benefit of the doubt. In this debate Deputy Grealish and the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Smith, suggested the Minister's policy was to put patients first. I would like to believe that but 30 minutes before the Minister commenced her speech in the House yesterday, I received a phone call from the husband of one of the seven people diagnosed with cancer in Portlaoise. He was very angry because he phoned the Minister's office on three or four occasions and left word with her private secretary that he would like her to call him back. He phoned the head office of the Progressive Democrats and asked them to pass on a message to the Minister that he would like her to call him. He phoned Hawkins House and left a message stating that he would like the Minister to call him. Sadly he is still waiting to hear from the Minister.

This individual's wife is receiving chemotherapy and in two weeks she will go to Dublin for six weeks of continuous treatment. Not one person from the Minister's office thought it worthwhile to make a phone call that could alleviate some of the trauma a family experiences when a loved one is diagnosed with cancer. The Minister claimed in her contribution to this debate that she sympathises with all involved in this matter but the facts say otherwise. The Minister knows who I am talking about and I ask her or a member of her staff, even at this late stage, to call the family in question. This would alleviate some of their suffering.

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