Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I think we have been very effective in creating new services in the non-tertiary centres. For example, there are some very good developments in Roscommon. In Cork, the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital has de facto become an elective hospital over time. We had that dotted around the country. Mount Carmel Community Hospital is another good example.

What the Deputy is saying has merit but the detail of that would have to be worked out and a lot of work would need to be done before we could get to the stage where I could give an affirmative response. There were proposals a decade ago in terms of the north east that caused enormous tensions and argumentation - I do not know if the Deputy wants to go back to that - as to the location of a new hospital for the north east. If we can build on existing services, we will have a better outline on how we can improve things.

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