Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Monday, Oireachtas Members from County Meath heard that the HSE intends to move imminently into the final stages of implementation, as it calls it, at Navan hospital. By September, the HSE intends to close all intensive care unit beds in the hospital and to close the emergency department and replace it with a medical assessment unit. This clear intention was restated yesterday at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health by Mr. Paul Reid, despite no additional capacity in place in Drogheda and no additional GP or community capacity even planned.

At the same time, the Minister for Health and the three Ministers in government from County Meath act like commentators. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, was on local radio this morning and said she is frustrated by the process. What exactly does she think her role is? How does she think the people of County Meath feel? Instead of pausing and pausing again this process, the Government needs to stop it and invest in emergency services at Navan. On behalf of the Government, and as all of County Meath looks on today, will the Minister commit to that?

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