Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I acknowledge the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Wallace. No disrespect, but I requested the presence of the Minister for Health and Children because the questions I raise are for her. I want confirmation from the Minister on the commitments given on the future of Roscommon County Hospital. The Minister of State is in a difficult position as she did not give those commitments as Minister, but she is here to reply on the Minister's behalf. I assure the Minister of State that I make these comments with respect, as she knows from previous contact over the years. The situation with regard to the future of Roscommon County Hospital is a serious issue that has caused deep concern for the people of the county. I have been fighting for the cause for many years.

My adjournment issue raises the need for the Minister for Health and Children to confirm that commitments made by current and previous Ministers for Health and Children will be honoured and that Roscommon County Hospital will continue to provide full consultant-led accident and emergency services on a 24 hours a day, seven days a week basis, and on-site acute medical, psychiatric and surgical services including coronary care.

It is essential to retain the current services of Roscommon County Hospital. A review was carried out of services at Roscommon County Hospital and Portiuncula by the HSE. The review referred to a number of options, but gave prominence to only one preferred option. The preferred option for the people of Roscommon is to retain the existing acute surgical medical and psychiatric services of the Roscommon County Hospital on a 24-hour, seven day a week basis. However, Professor Drumm has now made recommendations that go further than the review board document ever went and proposes to reduce accident and emergency services by 33%. I do not see how this can be justified. The numbers attending the accident and emergency unit are in the region of 13,000 per year.

I was chairman of the Western Health Board in 2002 when it signed the contract for a new €10 million accident and emergency department for Roscommon County Hospital, which is an outstanding facility. The latest proposal goes beyond the Hanly report, which made a geographical consideration with regard to the provision of acute services. Galway has Merlin Park Regional Hospital, UCHG, two private hospitals and Portiuncula is within 25 miles of the city. It is obvious, therefore, that if any hospital should retain its acute surgical services and be developed further, it should be Roscommon County Hospital, which has served the needs of the people of Roscommon since the mid-1940s.

The Minister who comes from Meath should realise that the situation in Roscommon is similar to that in Meath. In the past 12 months the lives of a number of young men have been saved because of the presence of Roscommon County Hospital's accident and emergency department. How would anyone explain the situation to parents of such young men if that service were discontinued and lives were lost? This is a matter of life and death.

When I was a Minister of State in the Department of Health, from 1987 to 1989, and the Western Health Board proposed the closure of Roscommon County Hospital, I got a clear commitment from the Government and thereby prevented the closure of the hospital. I want to make this clear. No independent Deputy was elected in Roscommon before 1989. The Government gave a commitment in 1987 that we would retain acute surgical, medical and accident and emergency services, as well as additional psychiatric services, and a statement was issued to that effect. On 12 September 2006, the Minister for Health and Children met my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Finneran. The latter indicated in a recent statement that senior officials from the Department and the HSE attended this meeting, at which it was agreed that inpatient surgery would continue to be provided at Roscommon County Hospital and that a joint department of surgery and anaesthesia would be established between Roscommon and Portiuncula hospitals, with two surgeons based at each hospital. A fifth surgeon was to be appointed to specialise in gastrointestinal surgery, with hours to be agreed by the hospitals.

This issue needs clarification and the Minister needs to confirm the commitments she made in September 2006 to the Minister of State. I call on her to honour the commitments she gave to the people of County Roscommon and those who rely on Roscommon County Hospital for acute treatment. I hope the response to my appeal will be positive but, if it is not, I intend to pursue other parliamentary means of raising this matter.