David Norris (Independent)

With the then Senator John Paul Phelan on this side of the House, I raised the case of Bethany Home in Carlow. Today I raise the case of St. Joseph's in Ardee which has been in operation since 1922 and gone to strenuous lengths to meet the appropriate HIQA requirements. The people of the area provide personalised care for the elderly. If they are displaced and transferred to the local hospital, it will be at a multiple of the cost.

I will end by quoting the fine words of the Minister for Health before or during the general election:

Facilities like these are being closed down, being told that they do not meet standards and they may close, having been deliberately run down. We have seen in the past how they undermine smaller hospitals with a very simple formula - starve them of resources, make them unsafe, commission a report and then use that report to justify closure.

I would like to see some standards in place. The then Senator John Paul Phelan played a noble role in assisting the hospital in County Laois when it was threatened in a similar way. Let the House act in a unified manner to protect standards and look after the young and the elderly.

I will end by referring, again, to "Tallafornia".