Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

After 2003 and all that has happened it takes some brass neck to come back here with an amendment like this. It is nothing short of scandalous.

The Dóchas centre in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda is a one-stop shop for cancer patients, mostly women. Last year 102 new patients presented in the centre. It is regarded by people in the region who have used that service and by many of us who, luckily, have not needed to use it in any way, as a state-of-the-art facility. However, the Government is withdrawing that service and shipping it up to Beaumont Hospital, an already overcrowded site. It is going to be even more overcrowded because the Government has changed its mind and is taking away the long-promised psychiatric unit and allowing private developers to build a co-located hospital. The Government is happy with that and is standing over it in the belief that it is acceptable. I do not believe it is acceptable — it is disgraceful.

Regarding the Dóchas centre, many breast cancer patients need to pop into hospital for a minor procedure that may last for five or ten minutes. There was almost no queuing and patients were in and out in a few minutes. With the removal of that service to Dublin, those patients will need to travel to Dublin and sit in a queue for several hours that would have only taken a few minutes in their home town. That is what the Government is presiding over. I am amazed at the brass neck of tabling such an amendment again. We all want palliative care to be available. It should not be available only for the rich. Poor families should not need to put themselves into debt to buy it or else do without it. The Tánaiste should withdraw his amendment immediately.

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