Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked a question; I am trying to make a point in reply. As he will be aware, other consultants were arguing very strongly for actions in respect of Navan and they argued differently from the consultants to whom the Deputy has spoken.

That is fair enough. That is the way the world works. There is no one uniform view in respect to the configuration of services from the medical community in Navan or the north east. I have said before that we need to learn lessons from previous configurations. The centralisation of cancer services, for example, was opposed left, right and centre up and down the country by protests. As Minister for Health, I experienced protests in many locations. Ultimately, some of the decisions taken proved to be beneficial and had better health outcomes. That said, in other areas we learned as well that it led to too much activity or overcrowding in certain other locations so there has to be balance and we have to learn lessons from previous reconfigurations to make sure that we can get the optimal-----

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