Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The people of Meath will greet the Government's statement with great disappointment. Today is the first time that I have heard the new emergency department in Navan referred to as the "new minor injury unit". That is its formal description in the Government's reply. I am not making a personal attack on the Minister of State. He simply read the statement on behalf of the Minister who did not attend. We have been told that a new accident and emergency department is being constructed but today it was described as an "ED-minor injury unit". That would accord with the smaller hospitals framework document.

The Minister and the Government have stated:

Accident and emergency services will continue on a 24-7 basis as capacity issues remain unresolved. Discussions will commence immediately within the group to draw up a plan to address the issue in the context of the strategic plan which the group must develop within a year of its formation.

As I see it, services in Navan, particularly the accident and emergency department and the intensive care unit, are on death row. They are continuing for now but plans are afoot to get into the detail of how they will be stopped. That is completely wrong and unfair, particularly in light of the fact that the regional hospital has been taken out of the picture and that Navan is outside of the group containing the other hospitals in the north east, which I find astonishing. Now we have to wait to see what the capacity issues in the Mater Hospital are before anything happens in Navan. There will be huge disappointment in County Meath in this regard and I will pursue the matter with the Minister for Health himself in due course.