Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Dr. O'Shea stated that a microbiologist was needed. He was not trying to explain the problem away. We all acknowledge that Dr. O'Shea and his colleagues in the hospital are doing their best to get the problem under control. The Tánaiste's argument that there will still be hospital infections even if there are microbiologists is a bit like saying that people still get sick after they visit the doctor. It does not get us anywhere. The medical personnel in Loughlinstown hospital concluded that what was required was a microbiologist. They looked for a microbiologist three years ago and have done so repeatedly since. The request came from the consultants and from hospital management and was supported repeatedly by Dr. Geraghty, the Dublin county coroner, who had the task of examining the deaths that occurred because of these problems.

I do not want a lecture on the generality of the relationship between the presence of a microbiologist and possible levels of infection in the system as a whole, nor do I want a response based on the number of consultants to be employed. I have two specific questions, neither of which the Tánaiste has answered. Why was a consultant microbiologist not appointed to Loughlinstown hospital in the past three years? When will one be appointed? That is what people who are being admitted to this hospital or have relatives in the hospital want to know.

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