Noel Coonan (Fine Gael)

I wish to ask the Leader and the Minister how many more tragedies we must witness and how many more lives must be lost before someone on that side of the House is prepared to take responsibility and ask who is running the health service. What is happening in this country and how long more will it be allowed to continue? I could recount another tragic incident but I will not do so today; I will do so at a later date.

I ask the Leader to take the matter up with the Minister. Who does one contact in the health service? Eights weeks ago, a networks manager was appointed for the mid-west region to manage hospitals. That man does not have a job today because he was told that the service is now being administered from Galway. No one knows who to contact. Perhaps Government Members know. A distinguished former executive of the former Mid-Western Health Board, who is employed by the Health Service Executive, does not know what is his role. That is scandalous. Members can contact him and ask him about this. It hurts me to hear people like Senator Mansergh lecturing about what should or should not happen. One would think it was his first day in Government. He is here for a number of years.