Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Comiskey's comments on the danger to ash trees in Ireland. Last September I attended an event in Ballinasloe when a local councillor presented a hurley to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. I believe that it led to Kilkenny winning the All-Ireland but that is a story for another day. The threat to the ash tree is serious.

In 1998 the old sanatorium in Waterford was demolished and a new hospital was built in its place which is now known as the Waterford Regional Hospital. It took almost ten years to complete the project at a cost of several hundred million euro. In the past two weeks a leaked document has come to prominence which suggests that Waterford Regional Hospital should be downgraded from level 4 to level 3. All political parties and politicians in the south east are concerned about the matter. The hospital serves 500,000 people, provides a broad range of services and is one of the eight centres of excellence for cancer here. As it works extremely well and is not broken, I do not see a reason to fix it. I thank the Leader for his assistance on the matter in the past week. I appreciate his help and the advice that he gave. I also appreciate the negotiations and lobbying that he has engaged in which are quite obvious to anybody following the matter.

I ask the Leader to ask the Minister to make a statement on the matter and to provide clarification for the people of the south east. The hospital serves Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Waterford. Why has the downgrade been proposed? We need an answer. A downgrade would not benefit the welfare of patients or their care. Is it proposed for the betterment of vested interests? I want the Leader to ask the Minister that question. I support the comments made by the previous speaker on the matter. I hope that it can be dealt with in a speedy fashion in order that we can kill, at an early stage, the idiotic suggestion to downgrade a hospital which provides a perfect and brilliant service in the south east.