Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I congratulate the Government on managing to keep this topic in the media for so many months. It certainly distracted the Opposition, as we fell over ourselves being for or against it. It also distracted members of the public, who forgot about the other huge issues in the health area. Whoever is advising the Minister for Health and Children on public relations deserves top marks. He or she deflected the public's attention and got much mileage from a single issue. That person should get a benchmark award for it.

There are important issues in the health area, one of which is the Hanly report. The Minister for Health and Children made it clear that he accepted the Hanly report. He was then undermined by the Minister for Defence, Deputy Michael Smith, in the Dáil. He was given some support by the Taoiseach, who proceeded to pull the rug from under the Minister a few weeks later in the Dáil. Meanwhile, the public does not know what is the position with the Hanly report. People are also not aware of what the position is regarding the diagnostic health centres which are part of the health strategy. That has implications for Carlow, which is the only county in the country without a general hospital. The county was hoping to be the location for one of the diagnostic health centres but we are not yet aware——