Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I said, the Taoiseach said in recent days that this was not a resourcing issue but that this was to do with academic allegiances, reviews and all of that. I am saying to the Tánaiste that this is a political issue. We have six cardiac rescue centres in the country, two of them in Dublin. The only one to serve the 600,000 people of the south east is constrained to a 39-hour working week.

Sometime next year in a phased operation we will get to seven days, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. This is not good enough in the Ireland of 2020. As I said, we are expending huge amounts of resources to try to support people through Covid. The cost of a 24-7 service in UHW is estimated to be in the order of €3 million per annum. I am asking the Tánaiste to set aside reviews, to assuage the concerns of those people who live every night with vulnerability because of underlying issues and to deliver health equality for the south east.

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