Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am afraid the commitment related to orthopaedic services. As a medical practitioner, the Minister knows full well the difference between those and other services. The commitment was that orthopaedic services would remain with St. Mary's on the north side of the city while all other health services would remain with the other hospitals. I knew at the outset that it was an empty promise, yet it was made by people who also knew. The rigamarole that followed saw an independent review group set up to examine the issue quickly. It threw its eye over the reconfiguration plans and recommended the removal of orthopaedic services to South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital, which is now under way.

The suggestion is that we can now trust what the Government is telling us, but the parties' statements while in opposition differ wholly from what is occurring on the ground and the policies being implemented. There is considerable financial pressure, but I knew about it last January and February, as did the Minister. That he could go to Navan and promise to build a new hospital in the north east-----

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