David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response and ask him to look at some of the replies to parliamentary questions I have received over the past six months on this issue and the figures therein which are quite instructive. Perhaps the Minister of State could call the two hotels I mentioned and speak to the management there. I spoke to them today and they are delighted with it.

With all due respect, the response I have received is exactly the same as the response I received last December, almost word for word. That was six months ago. If this had been acted on then the Minister of State would have €5 million more to spend. I have very little faith in this. I have come to the House as a last resort because I have been pushing this at various levels with the HSE and hospital management and getting no response whatsoever. I challenge the Minister of State to personally telephone the hospitals, find out what is going on, visit them and make it happen because we are wasting public money which could be saved and the Minister of State is responsible for this to the House.

The speech the Minister of State read out was all very fine but it is fancy verbiage and does not mean much because nothing is happening. I have been raising this issue for quite a while at various levels and I am frustrated. The amount I mentioned as a potential saving is a minimum and a lot more could be achieved by making simple changes and bringing in serious contractors. Forget the fancy consultants; bring in serious contractors who are practical people and they will identify and make the changes in approximately one month. They have done it already in the private sector hotels I mentioned. I cannot see why it cannot be done in hospitals.

There would also be huge savings in carbon emissions. The Rochestown Park Hotel has had a reduction of 33% in emissions which has resulted in a decrease of 77 tonnes of carbon and 278 fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted to the atmosphere, which is equivalent to removing 150 cars from the nation's roads each year. There are other benefits and it is not just about financial savings. I challenge the Minister of State, the Department and the HSE to get working on this. I want to see serious results soon.

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