Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I am not certain that is correct.

In response to Deputy Michael D. Higgins, for whom I have a lot of respect, my responsibility is to ensure that the HSE has appropriate laboratory facilities. The report commissioned by the HSE and the McGoogan report both refer to rationalisation. I do not know enough about hot labs and cold labs and all that detail because I have no expertise in the area. However, rationalisation of our laboratory facilities will be required to make sure we have quality-assured facilities for the public health system in Ireland. This is the task of the HSE. It is not a resource issue. It is about redeploying the resources we already invested in these facilities. If we do not have rationalisation, we will not have appropriate quality.

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