Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

No, I did not say that. I said I speak to them every day; I do not have to be at the hospital. It is a great pity that the Minister is not present at a few more hospitals. We might not be in the mess we are in now.

Where is the commitment to the money following the patient? I raised this issue previously in respect of an empty unit of the Midlands Regional Hospital in Mullingar that is lying idle, despite the number of patients attending the hospital. I am aware of what happens to them when they go there. A member of Westmeath County Council, who is an inter-county hurler, dislocated his finger recently. When he went to the Midlands Regional Hospital he was put on a chair in an administrator's office because the hospital was at full capacity. When the trolley count is conducted, I wonder if it includes the patients that are left sitting behind the desks. I telephoned him to ask how he was and he told me that the hospital would shortly have him answering the telephones.

Last week, I tried to get a medical card for a person who was due to be discharged from St. James's Hospital. The person had been medically approved to be discharged and the only thing he was waiting for was a medical card, which he needed to get the necessary equipment to go home. He was over a week waiting for the medical card, which meant a number of additional nights in the hospital. What is it costing when one part of the HSE cannot telephone another part? The hospital could not telephone the medical card section to inform it that the man could go home if he received his medical card. We must seriously examine where we are going.

I also wish to highlight the important issue of mental health services, an area that has been the Cinderella of the health service for far too long. Will the Minister for Health reaffirm the commitment to the ring-fenced funding of €35 million for community mental health services? The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, reaffirmed it last week during a Topical Issue debate, but there were reports in The Irish Times last Saturday that the earmarked €35 million could be used to shore up deficits. I ask the Minister to clarify and reaffirm the Government's commitment to the €35 million in funding for community mental health services. He has already confirmed that a number of posts due to be ring-fenced for the community mental health sector have been diverted to inpatient mental health services, albeit on a short-term basis.

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