David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend the new Minister and wish him well. I send him my best wishes. Obviously, we want anyone who takes up high office and a Ministry as important as health to succeed.

In 2009, I was a member of Waterford City and County Council when a presentation was given to the council by a group of healthcare professionals who were based in University Hospital Waterford, a number of whom were cardiologists. At that time - 11 years ago - they said we needed to expand cardiac services in Waterford for the entire south east. Alarm bells went off in the council chamber when the group said that if someone had a heart attack in Waterford or the south east outside the normal hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, he or she would have to go in an ambulance to Dublin or Cork for emergency cardiac care. There has been an ongoing campaign since then. I have a very straightforward question for the Minister. I raised this matter right through my period in the Seanad when I was elected in 2011, and when I was elected to the Dáil in 2016, as others have also done, and yet we have not had delivery of 24-7 cardiac care. The Minister's party leader and now Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, stood behind a banner and said that if Fianna Fáil was in government it would deliver on this issue. Fianna Fáil is now in government, Deputy Stephen Donnelly is the Minister for Health and Deputy Micheál Martin is the Taoiseach. Deputy Butler spoke earlier about the good work that has been done by all of us in the region on this matter. That work resulted in the last Minister for Health committing to funding a second cath lab. That is now delivered and is there. I have a direct question for the Minister. Can the Minister give me and the people of Waterford and the south east a categorical commitment that 24-7 emergency cardiac care for the south east will be delivered by him, as the Minister for Health, given the commitment made by the Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, as his party leader, and by others on this issue? It is a very clear question that deserves an honest answer for the people who live in the south east. Will the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, be the Minister for Health who delivers 24-7 emergency cardiac care for the south east?

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