Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I, along with my colleagues, wish to raise the issue of the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise, specifically the action plan which has recently come into the public arena. I wish to put on record my disappointment that the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, is not present for the debate. He has responsibility for this issue. Given that four Deputies are raising the issue, it would have been far better for the Minister to be here. We will have to seek a mechanism to put down a debate to ensure the Minister is here the next time.

We have serious concerns about Portlaoise. Before considering these, we have to look at the overall national context in which the report was prepared. There are 685,000 women, children and men on waiting lists for surgery and outpatient treatment. The waiting times in many of our hospitals are totally unacceptable by European standards. Every accident and emergency department in Ireland is overcrowded. People are on trolleys in the majority of them most days. The ambulance service is creaking at the seams. That is the context in which the report was drafted.

The report refers to closing the emergency department, maternity department, paediatric care unit, intensive care unit and all inpatient surgery in Portlaoise. The regional manager effectively only sees Portlaoise as a glorified health centre dealing with minor injuries and day procedures. Did those involved in the report think of the national context when drawing it up? It totally ignores the position of our health services throughout the country. The report is fundamentally flawed because it lacks an appreciation and recognition of the overall national position. For that and no other reason, this report must be rejected.

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