Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

——and the 17 patients who died in Loughlinstown hospital, where an inquiry is required. There is no doubt that patient safety is being compromised on a number of fronts. We have continually highlighted our concern about that.

The cutbacks are compromising patient safety. The care of elderly people is being compromised by the lack of home care packages. Care for young people with disabilities is being compromised because they are being sent to nursing homes where they become infected with MRSA. Patient safety is being compromised in all sorts of ways.

A number of Senators have highlighted how this is a debate on the issues of access and equity. The motion refers to the "absence of a Centre of Excellence north of a line from Dublin to Galway". There is a geographical inequality. We ask the Minister to listen and respond to our comments. Professor Keane was invited to Ireland to implement a strategy, but Deputy Harney is the Minister and she has the ability to change the strategy. She can respond to the requests set out in the motion to have a centre of excellence in the north west and to develop the satellite unit model because there is international evidence that they work.

The Minister stated that the consultant surgeon and his team will travel to Galway where there is one bed for patients from County Mayo and one bed for patients from County Sligo. How could this constitute a service? The Minister is closing centres in which patients have confidence. The patients treated therein and their families must feel undermined by some of the Minister's comments when she quotes international research. While that research is all very well, one must consider the figures. When Senator MacSharry quoted the figures in respect of counties Mayo and Sligo, the Minister did not respond in detail to the points made concerning survival rates.