David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask what is going on. We have 14 of the 19 Oireachtas Members in the south east involved, 12 of whom put their names to this Topical Issue today, yet the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, is not present. On previous occasions when we have put down similar matters, again, the Minister for Health was not here. He sneaked into Waterford a number of months ago, met with local hospital clinicians and consultants and met with one local Oireachtas Member, although he did not meet with the rest of us. Announcements are being made by other Ministers but we still have not heard from the Minister for Health himself. We are being treated with absolute contempt, and when I say "we", I mean the people of the south east. The Minister for Health needs to brief, talk to and communicate with, in the first instance, the people of the south east but also through us as elected representatives. I am outraged that when we have gone to the trouble of showing the level of regional unity and cross-party support that exists on this critical issue, the Minister is not here.

The reality, as the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, and all other Oireachtas Members know, is that there is a real problem of patient care and patient safety, and a lack of equality, in the south east. If a person has a heart attack after 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. any day of the week in any part of the south east, be it Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary or Wexford, that person will have to go to Cork or Dublin for emergency treatment. It is the only region in the State which does not have 24-7 emergency cardiac care. We are not getting any justification from the Minister as to why we are being denied this. The Higgins report again committed the south east, in particular University Hospital Waterford, to providing interventional cardiology to the people of the south east. In addition, we hear today that this so-called mobile cath lab is not for the south east alone and that it is going to be for a number of hospitals across the State. This also needs to be clarified by the Minister of State.

See this speech in context