Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister of State's reply but I am sure he will agree that if I had been provided with it in response to a parliamentary question, I would not be in the House now wasting everybody's time. This is a reasonably detailed reply. It indicates that the helipad has been used on 17 occasions in the past year, although it was supposed to have been used only six times. However, that is information about which I was not aware previously and I also have an indication as to the reasons for that. If I had received this in reply to my parliamentary question, I would have been able to work on the issue, talk to residents and find out from HSE management when the helipad on this housing estate will no longer be in use and when the helipad in the hospital complex will be used again.

A one-line reply to parliamentary questions such as the one I tabled shows zero respect for Members and for the people whom we are trying to represent. We are not trying to annoy anybody. I asked a genuine question about an important service that the people of the country need, that the hospital deems important and about which residents have a concern. If I had been furnished with this detailed answer previously, I would not have had to raise it as a Topical Issue. I appreciate the Ceann Comhairle affording me the opportunity to do so and I appreciate the sentiments expressed by the Minister of State. However, there needs to be continuous oversight of the use of this helipad because it emerged out of nowhere and residents and people further afield have concerns about it.

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