Ray Butler (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the review of hospital parking charges by the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, for people who are in hospital for a long time. It is long overdue. A man whose wife has cancer spoke on RTÉ recently. Over a six-month period he paid €1,000 in parking charges. My local hospital in west Meath, Navan, charges €4 for parking whether one is there for two minutes or two hours. There is a simple solution to this. If a person is not well over a long period of time and is staying in hospital, there should be no charge for parking for close family members. It is as simple as that. Some hospitals give free passes for certain cases, but this is not common knowledge and most patients and family members are not told about it. They have to keep paying the charges and it is just not good enough. I hope the Minister for Health can come before the House and provide us with a positive outcome. The review is long overdue.

There was a violent post office robbery last week in my constituency of Meath West. I hope the staff get over their terrible ordeal. The staff had to go back behind the counter and give out pensions and other entitlements. Fair dues to them for doing that. It is to be hoped that the brave man who tried to stop the robbers getting away recovers from his injury and the perpetrators are caught. I congratulate the staff on reopening the post office and giving people their entitlements in such difficult times.