Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

Of all the various testimonies I have heard, none has been more moving than that of Orla Tinsley who has outlined the daily struggles of people with cystic fibrosis in Ireland. She has spoken of the issues they must weigh up such as when they know they must go into hospital, but are terrified of the cross infection they may encounter in our hospital system in Ireland.

It is unbelievable and incredible that the promise that there would be a dedicated unit in St. Vincent's Hospital by 2010 has been reneged on. I realise the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, is not present but she must respond to the matter.

She must find a way to build a unit, as promised, to provide for people with cystic fibrosis.

We all know that Ireland has the world's highest incidence of cystic fibrosis. It also has the worst type. However, we have the worst services among the developed world — Europe, North America and so on. This is incredible, given that it is a life and death situation. The units are necessary to give people the opportunity to be treated safely in isolation. I urge the Minister of State to ensure that the promise be kept.

When the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland heard about this decision today and that there was no definite information on it, the association cited a HSE spokesperson who stated before last week's joint committee that no capital under the HSE capital plan would be made available for construction until 2011 at the earliest. Today, the HSE stated that the unit would be built in 2011. We need clarity. Will it be built in 2011 or is that in doubt? Will the Minister return to the promised date of 2010?

When this issue was highlighted in January of last year, people from the private sector offered to provide funding to build the unit, but they were refused because the Minister and the HSE had given an absolute commitment to have the unit built under the public system by 2010. That promise is being reneged on and the Minister, Deputy Harney, will ask the private sector. This is unacceptable.

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