Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is extraordinary that in September 2017 there was a problem with the roof and it will not be solved by September 2019. Having gone halfway down the road like so many processes, they all seem to run into legal, procurement or other problems. We are meant to have a dedicated national procurement process. It seems to me that in the old days when we could just procure stuff, we could get the jobs done. The Minister of State said they are working on a revised procurement strategy. In other words they are on the never-never. When does the Minister of State think we will have two theatres operational in Galway again? How long will this new process take until we actually have theatres fitted out and operational? He might throw in an answer as to why the roof could not just have been mended. It must be some roof.

How many people from Galway have had to avail of EU treaty rights and leave the jurisdiction to get basic services because they could not wait any longer? The Minister of State has said that nobody will have to wait more than six months. When will that actually happen? How many people are projected then to be on the waiting list rather than the 2,000 on the waiting list at the moment? We need specific answers and we need to know the facts.

At the end of the day, as I said in the beginning, people do not want excuses or explanations. They want operations carried out. For some, if they have access to money, the EU treaty rights provide some escape valve. It is ridiculous that we have to send people out of our country for basic services, but we have to because of the incompetence of the Government. For those without ready cash, that is not even a way out.

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