Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My colleagues in the Rural Independent Group and I demand that the Government retain accident and emergency services at Our Lady's Hospital, Navan fully. We also demand that the Minister for Health immediately remove any reference to the closure of these services from the small hospitals framework.

I know exactly how the people of Navan feel. Just last year, I had to drag the Government through the gutter to keep services at Bantry General Hospital open to the public. A crisis that was flagged well in advance arose when the hospital had no anaesthetist cover. The people of Bandon, Clonakilty, Dunmanway, Skibbereen, Mizen Head, Sheep's Head, Beara Peninsula and parts of west Kerry were left in a scandalous way. I have no doubt that if not for people power last year, the hospital would have been downgraded. Bantry General Hospital is one of the best hospitals of its type in the country and I thank our staff for making it the best. Without them, we would have nothing. It is sad to think that, if we do not keep our eye on the ball, cuts will be made. Consider the endoscopy unit at Bantry hospital. There were promises after promises. If we had a block laid for every promise, the unit would have been built ten times over. I promise the people of Bantry that I will keep the Government accountable until the work on the endoscopy unit begins.

I urge the politicians as well as the public who are served by Navan hospital to fight tooth and nail. If they accept the closure or downgrading of services, which many people did in west Cork until I launched the Save Bantry Hospital campaign, they will be closed or downgraded. Consider the fight that we put up for funding for Clonakilty Community Hospital to bring it up to HIQA standards. That is a right that the people of Clonakilty and the great hospital staff serving them should have, but I needed to drag and kick successive Governments into providing funding to get it across the line. Hospitals can be the gold standard. We have that in Schull community hospital, for which we fought and fundraised. Credit is due to the former Minister, Dr. James Reilly, who delivered the funds to give us a state-of-the-art hospital after others and I met him many years ago. The hospital is getting glowing reports from HIQA. I thank the hospital's management and staff for their professionalism down the years and for working with the public on making it the leading community hospital in the country.

I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, would listen to me. She was in Bantry last week but turned her back on the ordinary people by not even inviting me. Now she is talking while I am trying to discuss this urgent matter.

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