Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

That was not envisaged in the Teamwork-Howarth report. We are not closing the stand-alone maternity hospital or the orthopaedic hospital in Croom. That is why the issue of the 135 beds does not arise. In the context of a debate on a matter as important as this — it was chosen as the subject of Fine Gael's Private Members' time — we should deal with the facts that are before us.

The issue of consultant manpower in the region was also raised. We are currently recruiting two radiologists and one pathologist, with a specialty in cancer, for the cancer programme in Limerick Regional Hospital. We will recruit two more emergency consultants, thereby increasing to five the number of such consultants. They will all work together. We will have three new radiologists, three pathologists, a dermatologist, a neurologist and rheumatologist. I want to talk about them because they are new to the region. They will provide services in Ennis for the patients of County Clare and in Nenagh for the patients of north Tipperary. At the moment, 700 patients per year come from County Tipperary to Limerick for diagnostic procedures, including CT scanning. A further 1,000 patients come from Ennis for such procedures. From the summer of this year, those procedures will be performed in the local hospitals in Ennis and Nenagh.

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