Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I count 51 days to the end of the Taoiseach's premiership. Many commitments were made to Waterford and the south east in that time but one is paramount, namely, 24-7 cardiac care. We are just weeks away from a formal handover of the second cath lab in Waterford and we have no bed allocation other than the existing allocation within the hospital to service that cath lab. In essence, we are getting a Rolls-Royce with no engine. A 12-bed day ward was promised. I have engaged with the HSE for almost two years. We have spoken about modular space, capital remediation and moving out community services but we have done nothing in that time to deliver these beds and we cannot open the cath lab without having beds. In these remaining days, will the Taoiseach give a commitment through the Department of the Taoiseach to expedite some framework that we can get beds allocated to this unit?

See this speech in context