Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the end I was going to thank the Minister of State as he was in Carlow last Friday. We were delighted to have him in the enterprise board. It was great that we can show off what Carlow has to offer. I thank him for coming to Carlow. These injury clinics are so important when we now see how Carlow is growing. We have Kilkenny hospital, which is also an excellent hospital, but it would be beneficial to everyone if Carlow had its own injury clinic, and it would be great if people could go there. We have the services ready. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, is aware of this. I have spoken to him several times about an injury clinic for Carlow. I spoke about the ambulance paramedics who do an excellent job. The system is failing at the moment. A mother came to me last week, who had called an ambulance for her two-year-old daughter who had a seizure. She was waiting six hours for the ambulance to come. I believe the child is now getting tested for epilepsy. If we had the injury clinic it would help everyone. It would help the ambulance paramedics and the great job they are doing. It would help Kilkenny hospital. The main thing for me is that it would be there for the people of Carlow. It would be a service the people of Carlow need. We really need to have it there. We need that service, and it would be of great benefit to everyone. I ask the Minister of State, in his role, to go back to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly on this. I have spoken to the Minister about this several times.

The one thing that needs to be looked at is the urgency of this injury clinic. We have a lovely X-ray unit in Carlow. If we could just expand that to get bigger premises, it would be an absolute win-win for the people of Carlow.

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