Minister of State John Halligan has challenged Fianna Fáil to introduce a motion of no confidence in the Government in a row over the provision of cardiac services at University Hospital Waterford.
Mr Halligan, rounding on Fianna Fáil in the Dáil, said the party rather than the Independent Alliance of which he is a member, holds the majority say in the Government.
The cath lab (catheterisation laboratory) that TDs were calling for would either be provided or the Government would fall if there was such a motion. A cath lab provides digital imaging for cardiac examination and treatment.
During heated exchanges over the provision of cardiac services, Mr Halligan, a TD for Waterford, who has campaigned for the facility and secured a mobile lab, said of Fianna Fáil: “They could table a motion of no confidence in the Government if it does not bring forward a second cath lab. That will do it.”
He said: “I am sure if a motion of no confidence in the Government came from Fianna Fáil on the necessity of a second cath lab in Waterford, it would be supported by Sinn Féin and many other Independents and that would be the end of it.
“The Government would have to provide a second cath lab or fall.”
5,000-strong protest
A number of TDs raised the health issue during question time on topical issues, following a protest on Saturday in Waterford when more than 5,000 people marched through the city calling for a 24-hour cardiac care service at the hospital.
A mobile cath lab has been pledged but protesters wanted a permanent lab and said the southeast was the only region without a 24-hour cardiac service.
Fianna Fáil TD Mary Butler said the service would save lives. The health budget this year is more than €14 billion. Ms Butler said the capital cost for the lab would be a once-off €2.6 million with an additional €2 million a year to cover running costs.
Fianna Fáil Carlow-Kilkenny TD Bobby Aylward asked: “Are we in the southeast backward people who do not deserve the service everyone else in the country gets.”
Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane hit out at Minister for Health Simon Harris for his non-attendance in the Dáil but Minister of State Marcella Corcoran Kennedy said he offered his sincere apologies but was unavoidably absent.
‘Slow learner’
Independent TD Mattie McGrath claimed Mr Harris “has been a slow learner as far as health goes and has been captured by the officials in the HSE. He is a puppet for them now”.
Ms Corcoran Kennedy said, however, the Minister was taking the issue very seriously and investment had been provided to enhance cardiac services.
She said the cardiology waiting list at the hospital had dropped by almost 20 per cent since the end of November and the numbers waiting more than a year had dropped by 67 per cent.
She said an additional €500,000 had been allocated to the hospital this year and that patients waiting for treatment over a year would have procedures completed by the end of February and patients waiting three to 12 months would have them completed by June this year.
