Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We cannot disagree with any of the sentiments, statistics or facts to which Deputy Coffey has referred. I am pleased to share time on this critical issue for Waterford and the south east. Some 15,000 people took to the streets in Waterford this weekend and I was proud to be there. I put it to the Minister of State with all sincerity that the people are very angry and concerned. We are their representatives in the Dáil and we need some assurances about what is happening in Waterford and the south east. The demonstration was organised in one week, indicating the outcry and concerns of the people there. I walked in the march with an old school friend whose father died when he was a young man. He put it to me that he does not want anyone else to have to get in a car to access services two or three hours away. This sentiment has been replicated by many public representatives throughout the south east who believe those days are done. Those days must be done. We must retain these services for our people in the south east. This is not only an issue for Waterford but for the south east.

If the Government decides to withdraw, dismantle and break up the health care framework provided in the south east on the whim of Professor Higgins then where is the region? What are we? That is the stark reality of what is being proposed. What will happen if these services are withdrawn? What would the south east become? We need assurances for the thousands of people and their families throughout the region who depend daily, weekly and monthly on the provision of jobs by the HSE in the south east and, more important, on access to and provision of adequate and top-class health care currently on offer. If it is not broken, why are we trying to fix it?

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