John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. First, it is beyond question that cardiac waiting times in County Waterford and the south east are unacceptable. In fact, when I was in opposition, I brought this to the attention of the Dáil on a number of occasions and was the first Member to do so. I stand by my belief that the second lab is an absolute necessity and reiterate the point that it is not Waterford alone, but the south east that is involved. I stand by my belief that the Herity report was flawed, as many others have said, because of its terms of reference and because it did not include meetings, in particular with consultants in Wexford, Tipperary, Kilkenny or anywhere else in the south east. There is no question about that. Be that as it may, the Herity report is the Herity report and the Minister has said he will not change his mind on it.

The Minister acknowledged to me that he would come to Waterford to meet the consultants privately. I did not participate albeit I arranged for that meeting and for the Minister to come. The evidence of that meeting will be that I was there and did not participate in it. I had particularly asked the Minister to come. Nor did I participate in any announcements that the Minister had made for Waterford, some of which were quite good. I facilitated a meeting with all of the consultants. At that particular meeting, the consultants said they acknowledged they were gone past the Herity report and that we needed to go forward and it was their proposal, not mine, to use a mobile cath lab to deal with the 780 people on the waiting list and to carry out a further review. In my estimation, that is what has been agreed by the Minister. There will be a mobile cath lab in Waterford to deal with waiting lists and during that time a further review will take place with different terms of reference.

I can understand Sinn Féin being in opposition and not having been in government, but Fianna Fáil was in government for 20 years during which time we did not have a second cath lab. Fianna Fáil has the facility to put down a Private Members' motion to instruct the Government to deliver a second cath lab. The party has more power than the six people in the Independent Alliance. Fianna Fáil should come to the Dáil next week or the week after with a Private Members' motion, which would be supported by the House, including the Independent Alliance. The second cath lab would probably be delivered.

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