Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I want to tell the Minister why the women and people of Mayo have no confidence in her and no confidence in going to Galway. I shall give two or three simple examples. There is a woman in the Visitors Gallery tonight who had to go on local radio this morning, crying and praying for her loved one, who is in a very bad state in Mayo General Hospital for the last number of weeks, waiting for a bed in Galway. If that operation could have been carried out in Mayo General Hospital, it would have been done. I had a simple case in my constituency, which I shall again put on the record of the Dáil. A woman was called for oncology service for next September, although she has been dead for 17 years. Yet the Minister expects the women of County Mayo, Sligo and Letterkenny to believe she is offering them a better service in Galway.

I know the Minister was aggravated the last time I mentioned that Professor Tom Keane was on €600,000 to do the job. If the man was committed to staying here and ensuring this was going to work, I should have some respect for and actually believe the Minister. However, he will draw down the money, set up the service and, like the Minister for Health and Children, he will have no accountability for anything. He will have no accountability because he will be back in Canada again, and when we table Dáil questions to see how this system is operating and how Professor Keane is doing, we will be told he is no longer here.

I want to thank those in the Visitors Gallery for coming here over the past two days. Many of these women cannot afford to be here.

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