Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A man died because he could not get access to emergency heart treatment within any reasonable timeframe. People feel the time for review is over. I asked the Taoiseach a very specific question. The clinical review team said to go ahead with the second cath lab. A business case was made in 2013 and 2014. Who stopped that? Can someone give me a transparent answer to that question? Why was there a need for the Herity report at all when, according to the 2012 assessment of 12 designated centres, Waterford was identified as having the potential to become a PCI centre with expansion? Who actually stopped that in 2014 and 2015? The Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, is blaming invisible civil servants for stopping the Minister from doing what he wants to do.

The Taoiseach read out a statement about the national review. He could have been reading what the Minister, Deputy Harris, wrote in response to a parliamentary question ten months ago on 28 September of last year. He stated, "A national review of PPCI and PCI services is to be undertaken and completed by July 2017; recommendations will be made regarding the future configuration of these services, including the number and location of centres required to serve the population needs". The only difference is that the Taoiseach has moved it 12 months forward or maybe beyond. People feel that the Taoiseach has no credibility in reiterating meaningless statements of that kind.

Can the Taoiseach give me an indication or a reason as to why someone stopped the implementation of the 2012 recommendations and the actioning of that in terms of the business case of 2013 and 2014? The consultants in Waterford were making this case very strongly to everybody who would listen. They were clinicians as well. For some reason someone said we were not having that and that a new review was needed to bury this thing once and for all. I put it to the Taoiseach that if he follows the Herity report to the letter, which he seems to want to do, the idea of ceasing emergency heart treatment makes absolutely no sense.

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