Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Minister's appraisal of our motion as balanced. We acknowledge that progress is being made and the work that is being done by everyone involved.

I could make a number of comments to the Minister at this juncture, and not all negative. We have great potential to develop pre-hospital services rapidly. One area is the paramedics themselves. Their career path needs to be developed so that they are trained to do more medical work in the communities. They are not just ambulance drivers any more. We have to make sure they are trained in the IT systems we have and that there are more of them. The Minister was in Tuam recently at the primary medical centre. Just up the road from that there is the new ambulance base which was built approximately seven years ago. It is a fine facility, capable of running two ambulances full time but there is only one in operation 24-7. They find it a struggle to deal with the call outs they get because there is only one ambulance. When that goes out the next ambulance has to come from Galway but they go down as far as Knock. We need to beef up those resources.

Earlier, my colleague, Deputy Berry raised the issue of students and training at UL. When they do their on-the-road training, they have to go to the NHS in the UK. Then they find it difficult to come back here and get jobs. We are a small country with 5 million people which, as the Deputy pointed out, is the size of Birmingham. We should be able to ensure that we do the on-the-road training here. That is something I would ask the Minister to look at very seriously.

While we are talking about potential, my own community group, Belclare community council, is buying a new defibrillator. They are buying it themselves out of their own resources. The local GAA club is also buying one and we will share them and the facilities we have. I often think that these are an asset for everyone and the State should provide them. I acknowledge that the Minister has taken the VAT off the equipment. I came across a man at the top of Croagh Patrick last May. He was talking about how there were no defibrillators or anything on Croagh Patrick. He was a first responder himself. We discussed it a few times when we stopped to get our breath on the way up and we met at the top and we discussed it again. By God, did I not meet him at the bottom again and he said he was going to do something about it? Last week, the Air Corps landed two of the units onto Croagh Patrick. This man ended up on "The Late Late Show” and got €15,000 of a bursary. He was named Mayo Man of the Year by the Mayo Association of Dublin. Darren Forde is his name and he is from Hollymount. He is a credit to this country. He is full of enthusiasm. He has developed a box that will be eco-powered. It can be put in place in a matter of minutes. I believe the Department and the HSE should have a meeting with that guy because he has the ideas and the will to deliver. That is where our potential is. It is not to be looking within the HSE for the answers; the answers are out in our communities. It is important that we harness that.

Returning to the Minister’s visit to Tuam, I have a big problem with the fact that we still do not have the X-ray facility at the primary care centre. That facility would take people out of the emergency department in Galway. It does the X-rays locally and they are read in Portuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe. I know the Minister said it would be delivered before June and I hope to God that is what is going to happen because the funding was made available in 2017.

I also welcome that the outpatient building in Merlin Park has commenced construction on-site. It is another worthy project to get done. The failing, again, is the time taken to do this. We have discussed this previously. We need to put a big effort into short-circuiting the time it takes to deliver these kinds of projects. The elective hospital in Galway needs to be looked at to see how we can best deliver it in the quickest time for the people of the region. If we do that, we will be doing something that is right and is honourable for the people.

I have an issue with the HSE regarding a day centre in Loughrea. It is probably part of the attitude of the HSE. It has decided to take a purpose-built day centre, which was a model for this country and to redesignate as part of a community nursing unit. It was only built in 2011. Today it can only be used one day a week for older people in Loughrea and the surrounding area. We are having a public meeting tomorrow night about it but I want to put on record here that the HSE is wrong in what it is doing. It is going to spend more money creating another facility some place else on the site which, first, is not fit for purpose, in my book and, second, has a purpose-built unit that should be held for older people.

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