Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

We do not have centres of excellence in this country; we have centres of trolleys. That is the case for anybody who has actually been in those hospitals. In the last ten months, 20,000 people have marched on the streets of Meath to protect the accident and emergency department, the most important piece of health infrastructure we have in the county. I delivered a petition to the Minister's office just two weeks ago, signed by 15,164 people. The vast majority of the 220,000 people who live in Meath at the moment are absolutely opposed to the HSE plan to close down the accident and emergency department. We will resist any efforts to make our region a University Hospital Limerick mark II. The Taoiseach should mark my words. On Friday at 1 p.m., the people of Meath will march again in Kells.

It is the constituency of the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne. This march will be led by a number of funeral hearses to make sure that the Government knows that this is a life or death issue for the people of Meath. Thousands of people are alive in this county because of that emergency department. What we are asking is reasonable. We ask that the review include a feasibility study on what it would take to make Navan functional and safe for the people of Meath in the future. We want that to be fully included in the terms of reference-----

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