Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl as ucht deis labhartha ar an gceist thábhachtach seo a fháil in éineacht le mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta Pearse Doherty.

I am not surprised to hear the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, cannot be here today. I know exactly where he is; he is on his way to Donegal at the invitation of the Minister of State, Deputy Joe McHugh - on a Tuesday evening when we have a minority Government. They decided to do this when neither myself, Deputy Pearse Doherty nor any other Deputy could attend the event. I think this is very cynical and the Minister must answer to it. We would have been there if it was any other day. Had they travelled from Sligo on Friday last to meet 550 irate people, we could have discussed this in person.

As Deputy Pearse Doherty has suggested, the decision of January 2016 has to be overturned. The only consistency in all of this is that every single reply to our parliamentary questions has indicated that the long-stay beds in those hospitals of St. Joseph's, Ramelton and Lifford do not have a future.

I received that reply in early July this year, before the recess. Of course, when the political temperature became too hot for the Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy McHugh, the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Jim Daly, went on local radio and suggested that the information given to me by way of parliamentary reply was wrong. I was very pleased because I thought there had been a mistake and that this would be reversed. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, has yet to confirm to the Dáil that that was not true. The answer to the parliamentary question was correct, and I give full credit to those who prepare them. It is not good enough. Further to that, the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, announced there would be €3 million available. That was fake news; it is a tissue of you-know-what. Those 550 irate people will be back there tonight again and they want answers. The answer cannot be that it is in the national development plan, because that plan is underwriting the plan of 2016. I hope the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Byrne, who is always available to answer questions, will be able to tell us, on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, that he has decided to rescind the decision of 2016.

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