Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I also know doctors who work in British Columbia. Some of them came back to work in Ireland. They tell me that the regional hospitals in Ireland are not a patch on the smaller hospitals in Canada. That is the reality. There is neither the number of consultants nor the equipment in the hospitals in this country to do what the Minister has described. No matter what high notions the Minister might have about saving people's lives, she has not put the resources into it. Until she does, she will not save those lives.

It would be far more appropriate for the Minister to put the funding into the eight centres now and, when we return to this in 12 or 24 months, the Minister can show us the comparisons between the resources those eight centres have and what she wants to take away now. We see what has happened in the north east where the Minister's Cabinet colleague has confirmed that there is no money for a new hospital there. If the same thing happens in this case, there will be no money for cancer services to treat patients. In the meantime, however, the Minister will have closed down the services that are already available to patients in hospitals throughout the country on the basis of something she calls reform. The Minister should first build up the services in the eight centres and when we debate this again in 12 or 24 months we will make the comparisons the Minister mentions. At present, however, it is a phoney war. The Minister is not putting the resources into this and she will not save people's lives.