Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputies Joe Carey, Pat Breen and Tom Hayes, if that is in order.

At the outset, I acknowledge the role played by the staff, medical and otherwise, of Nenagh General Hospital and Limerick Regional Hospital. I acknowledge also the emergency services who provide such a fantastic service, in difficult situations, to the people of north Tipperary.

Deputy Lowry provided a list of what we all want in north Tipperary. I share those wishes, going as far back as my time on the health board when a development plan was put forward by the eminent consultant, Mr. Paul Burke, who has been much mentioned in the House. That plan saw a role for the four hospitals in the mid-west in providing a complete service for the entire region. Specific specialised services with a dedicated consultant-led team were to be provided in each hospital in the region.

For Nenagh General Hospital, those would have been neurology, vascular surgery, ENT and cardiovascular surgery. That was to be welcomed. In the development plan drawn up by the health board, of which I was a member, Nenagh General Hospital was put forward also for upgrading of theatres and an endoscopy suite, all the items that Deputy Lowry now promises. That was at the beginning of the Celtic tiger era when Deputy Mary Harney became Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Lowry did not support the Government and Fianna Fáil promised the sun, moon and stars to the people of north Tipperary. Did that party deliver in times of plenty? I put that question to my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Máire Hoctor, whom I welcome to the House tonight.

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