James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

We are wasting more time. I had a speech prepared to outline why the Minister's figures are wrong but I outlined that last night. I have an e-mail from Miriam Wiley of the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, and I will read part of it.

Where there is discrepancy between data reported the only way that that can be resolved is by access to the two sources. In this instance it seems to me that would mean that the data source for the hospital would need to clarify how the findings reported there were reached and likewise the Department of Health and Children would need to clarify the process involved in identifying the data reported from that source.

The data source for the hospital has clarified how the findings reported there were reached. It is implicit that the ESRI can only collate what is transmitted to it and what has been transmitted to it is incorrect regarding Mayo General Hospital. If this has been replicated around the country, the implications are obvious. We are planning a health service on misinformation.

Why does the Minister persist in using figures from the years 1994 to 2001 to compare outcomes for women on the west coast to those of women on the east coast when there was no breast cancer service, no surgeon and no oncologist in these areas until 2000?

If one checks the figures relating to five years survival in breast cancer patients for 2002, one finds that the rate is 88%, which exceeds the European average as reported in The Lancet Oncology last year. It also compares favourably to American data.

I pointed out that there is more than one way to deliver a centre of excellence. It can be done in the absolute fashion chosen by the Minister or it can be done through satellites, as the Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York has done, as mentioned by Deputy Flynn. In these areas all patients before they commence treatment are discussed by the entire team at both the centre and the satellite and this is what gives the best outcome. The Government has already opted for this option in Letterkenny. I have further outlined the appalling record of the Government in keeping its word and the record of the HSE and its ability to deliver safe, effective and timely health care.

I mentioned a transport system based on volunteerism. Only this morning we had a heated debate between the Fine Gael leader, Deputy Enda Kenny, and the Taoiseach, who failed to answer the question of what has happened to funds allocated by the Government through the Department to the HSE for specific purposes. This money was designated for the hospice and the mental health services but was hived off for other uses.

See this speech in context