Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

Many people are already being forced into exile because of the deal and let us hope that more are not forced out if we continue along this disastrous path. One more victim of the austerity being forced on the country by the IMF and EU is our hospitals. In a shocking announcement yesterday, Loughlinstown hospital's 24-hour accident and emergency service is to be abolished and replaced with a daytime minor injuries service and surgical procedures are to be limited at the hospital. This is an appalling move, which will have a very damaging effect. The hospital serves a catchment area of approximately 160,000 people. It is the only 24-hour accident and emergency service between St Vincent's Hospital and Wexford General Hospital. It treated 21,000 accident and emergency patients last year so it is clearly a service that is being used.

A number of years ago the 24-hour accident and emergency service in St. Michael's Hospital in Dún Laoghaire was reduced an 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. service. This is a retrograde, disgraceful move which is inexplicable given the commitments the Minister, Deputy Reilly, gave to me in response to a question on the future of Loughlinstown hospital a few weeks ago when he stated: "The HSE recognises that it is of paramount importance that there is no impact on services to patients as a result of the recent redeployment of staff from St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown and community services". That was in the context of me asking why staff were being moved from there against their will to work on the other side of the city.

We now discover that his assurances were empty and that those redeployments were part of a deliberate run-down of services, which pre-empt the review the Minister promised after which the Government would consider the services that might be impacted. However, we now discover that the 24-hour accident and emergency service in Loughlinstown is to be shut down, causing extreme hardship and anxiety for many people.

All of these people will now be forced to go to St. Vincent's Hospital or to Wexford General Hospital. That means 21,000 additional people into an already over-stretched service in St. Vincent's. This is a disastrous move, the background to which is the €1 billion reduction in health service funding, which the Government has refused to reverse as a result of the IMF-EU deal. I appeal to the Government to reverse this move and retain the 24-hour accident and emergency service which is desperately needed in the area. If that does not happen I would anticipate rage in the County Wicklow as well as in the Loughlinstown, Ballybrack and Dún Laoghaire areas. We are already planning meetings and protests about the issue. I appeal to the Minister of State to save me the trouble of having to having to organise demonstrations and the anxiety of the people in the area by ensuring this accident and emergency service remains open.

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