Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

One has only to read the Hanly report to know what this implies.

I thank all Senators for their contributions and like Senator Maurice Hayes acknowledge that all Members are sincere in their beliefs on how the health system should operate. I hope people accept that about me. I believe fundamentally that the Hanly policy is disastrous. I disagree with Senator Maurice Hayes who says one cannot have an accident and emergency unit in every hospital. If accident and emergency services are removed from 26 hospitals as planned in the implementation of the Hanly report, many hundreds of thousands of people will have to travel long distances to avail of them. People's health will be put at risk.

While there are people who say I am scaremongering when I say that, I ask Members to believe I am not doing so. I have read a great deal of literature and examined a great deal of research. I am especially concerned that the fundamental premise on which the Hanly report is based is not borne out by the statistics contained within it. The statistics do not show that larger hospitals produce better outcomes. They show the opposite. The cornerstone of the Hanly report says something entirely different. Despite that, the Government is determined to implement it. That is the reason I do not believe what Senator Feeney said. I do not believe the Hanly report is all about implementing the EU working time directive because there are many ways to implement it. One does not have to deprive whole areas of the country and put the health of many at risk to solve the problem of the EU working time directive, which we had long enough to consider.

There are alternatives to the Hanly proposals which the hospital services action group will roll out in the coming months and at which I will invite the Tánaiste to look. They are well-worked out proposals based on some issues discussed in the Hanly report on team-building and so on. The fundamental cornerstone is that local access to acute hospital services is essential to maintain a health service that people need.

The Minister referred to the distance between Nenagh and Limerick and getting to Limerick as if it was just a hop and skip. As it happens the distance is not great. However, the distance from Upper Church and from Thurles to Limerick is much longer and the road is bad. I agree that is not the worst part of the country in terms of roads infrastructure and access to hospitals but the west is in a much more difficult position. Some people say the Hanly report has nothing to do with Dublin but something has been neglected in this debate.