Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to be associated with the comments to Senator Kelly following the bereavement in his family.

I congratulate everyone concerned with the management buy-out of the Elverys group. Some 654 jobs have been protected.

It is important not only to create new jobs but also to protect those that exist. I welcome the management buy-out, given the groups it was competing against, such as Sports Direct, a large international company.

There has been a very unseemly public row playing itself out in the media about the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group and the Health Service Executive, HSE. I have a vested interest because Wexford General Hospital is part of the Dublin East Hospital Group together with St. Vincent’s University Hospital. It is time this issue was concluded. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Health to come in here to explain what is going on? It is not much of a negotiation because it is all happening via leaks of letters from the HSE to the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group. It is ridiculous and needs to be resolved so that the Dublin East Hospital Group can get on and deliver patient care which is what it is there for. I do not know if this is personality driven and do not care if it is. The Minister for Health needs to grab hold of this and bring it to a conclusion.