John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I know Senator Prendergast has a background in these services and I am not trying to rubbish any of her remarks. Retaining the level of competency of a hospital for the sake of the 49 beds in this case, however, is wrong. I went through all of these factors during the cancer services debates in Laois. In the case of Tipperary, an image has been created of people sitting in a room somewhere in the HSE privately deciding on the services in this hospital. Three clinicians made the media aware of the removal of these services as if it were breaking news. It was not; it is part of the whole reform programme for mental health services.

If one takes the full logic of the argument that the moneys released from the sale of mental health hospital lands should be retained for the particular area in question, then the people of north Tipperary should not receive any of it because it has no facilities.