Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)

It ill behoves anybody to come to the Chamber and question our mandate. I was elected by the public just as any Member on the Government side of the House was so elected. It is not a democratic stance to question anybody's legitimate mandate.

On the motion, HSE west has had a reduction of 5% in its budget. What has the Minister of State got against the people of Limerick and the mid-west? Deputy O'Donnell addressed local issues and I, too, will address these areas. Our share of the budget from HSE west has been reduced by 13% in the acute hospital groups around Limerick, while in the Galway region the figure has been reduced by 10%. Why are the public and patients in Limerick being more discriminated against than patients in other parts of the country? That is a legitimate question I was asked to raise.

The funding of community services around Limerick has been reduced by 5%, which is the global cut to HSE west. However, there is a further reduction of €19 million on top of that which arose from savings that had accrued the previous year. These are now being rolled forward. They were generated in good faith but now we are being penalised as a region in their regard.

I wish to raise specific issues in respect of our community hospitals. St. Camillus's was mentioned. I refer to St. Ita's community hospital in Newcastle West in County Limerick. An enormous community effort was supported by Fianna Fáil, the Green Party, the Progressive Democrats, the Fine Gael Party and local communities throughout the years. There were church gate collections and raffles. Volunteerism in the truest sense of the word helped to contribute and build the services and facilities there. There have already been 19 bed closures since last year and these are being followed by another ten. That is disgraceful. One must add to that the fact that our home help services will be reduced by 5%. We are told that everybody will continue to receive a delivery of home help service but it will be less.

The parties on the Government side promised no cuts in front-line services. They must be reminded of this at every juncture although they refer to people talking out of both sides of their mouths at public meetings. What does that promise mean? What is a front-line service to somebody who needs home help? A reduction to a person's home help service is a cut in a front-line service. The Government parties should not come back and tell us we are engaging in hypocritical politics. Those parties made this promise and the people voted for them on the basis there would be no cut in front-line services.

When will the Government give local HSE management in the mid-west a baseline staff figure? How can it expect people to manage the health services when they do not know the minimum threshold staff complement that will be available to them to provide a 24-7 service? If the Government is to take control of the HSE, as it says it will, it should empower local management to have a minimum level of staff to plan their 24-7 roll-out of service.

Limerick maternity hospital is the fifth busiest of the 19 maternity units in the country, catering for 5,500 births per annum. It was a disgrace that two weeks in succession the Taoiseach came into the Chamber and rubbished a senior obstetrician consultant in this Parliament. He rubbished him outright. As the consultant's direct employer, the Minister, Deputy Reilly, should have defended him.

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