Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

It becomes more frightening every day when the Minister denies the availability of finance does not matter. Before the North Eastern Health Board was wound down, it pointed out that because of the population increase in the region, €40 million would need to be provided so that funding would match what was available in the rest of the country. Has the temporary post been replaced by a permanent post? What steps has the Minister taken to deal with this? Will she listen to the clinicians on the ground about how serious is the situation? I have spoken to many of them in recent weeks and they did not say the Minister's proposals were safe or anywhere near it. They said the situation is extremely dangerous. Mr. Finbar Lennon was the expert adviser to the health board and he has raised more questions than anybody else about what is happening in the north east and the damage that is being done. The Minister promised that no services would be removed until services as good or better were provided but she is removing services on a daily basis and, as Deputy O'Dowd said, putting patients at risk.

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