James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. Nonetheless, I believe I have an entitlement to comment, just like any other Senator. I could say a lot of things about said party leader when he was Minister, including the large Travers report which was lost behind the back of a radiator, but I will not waste precious time on that.

I stood here two days ago and pointed out that no part of the health service exists in isolation. While we have terrible trouble with waiting times and people on trolleys, that is very much influenced by what happens in primary care. Early diagnosis and intervention and prevention are critical, as is what happens following treatment in terms of facilities for people to go home. Most people want to go home and live in their own homes.

In that context, I raise the need for a day hospital in Swords to serve the people of North County Dublin. The Mater hospital and Beaumont Hospital are large regional hospitals with national and regional specialties and services. Very often, day surgery spaces are taken up by acute admissions from the night before. If Swords had a separate day hospital which was accessible to over 100,000 people and beyond, many of these procedures, such as hernia and gallbladder surgery, cataract removal, plastic surgery, etc. could take place. These are currently being successfully carried out in places like Ennis, Louth County Hospital, Roscommon and Nenagh. I call on the Minister to give consideration to this suggestion and he might come before the House at some point to discuss it.On some of the comments made earlier, in his defence, the Minister is working to fix the problems he has inherited in the health service, many of them due to serious cutbacks. It was Fianna Fáil which when in power started to remove beds from the system and which ran the country over the cliff, with Deputy Micheál Martin as one of the major co-pilots on that flight and descent.