Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There has been much involvement in the past by local representatives at health board level, but that did not solve the problem. The problem can be solved by supporting the reforms that we are trying to bring about, which will ensure that we have greater investment in community care. We cannot have a situation where the acute hospital sector takes up all the allocation to the extent that it is currently doing. We must reform the health service, as Professor Drumm said yesterday in the interview he gave in response to this programme.

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