Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to lose the opportunity to pay tribute to the Kerry minor and senior teams. I can tell the House that they put a double smile on our faces in Kerry this weekend and on the faces of the thousands of people who turned out last night for the homecoming in Rathmore, Tralee and Killarney. It was a great night and a joyous occasion for all the people. I also want to pay tribute to the Irish Special Olympics team on its fantastic performance at the European Championship. Amidst the crowd last night, there was a young girl who was sporting two medals - one gold and one silver. She was the hero of the night as well.

I want to raise a problem that has arisen in the laboratory in Cork University Hospital with regard to blood testing. Apparently, there is a glitch in the computer that is causing delays with blood tests. People are coming not just from Cork but from Kerry and other counties for chemotherapy and surgery and they need to have these blood tests done before they can undergo their treatment. This has been happening for over four weeks. I know that the staff in the laboratory are working flat out and carrying out manual tests to ensure that people have their blood tests done but there is a backlog of blood to be tested and there will probably need to be re-tests because the existing blood is out of date and too old to be tested. I would appreciate it if the Leader could ask the Minister for Health to come to the House to give us an update on what is happening and when the problem will be rectified.