I wish to refer to an usual situation. A former professor of medicine in New York University has offered a very generous grant of $4 million for the provision of a neurosurgical facility at University College Hospital, Galway. The staff at the hospital, however, are growing frustrated that the Minister for Health and Children has not accepted this generous grant to provide the service because there is a review of the neurosurgical needs of the whole State. The Western Health Board, of which I am a member, has requested on numerous occasions that staff and accommodation be provided for the service.
Everybody will appreciate that there are many people who live on the western seaboard for whom this facility will arrive too late. A very active western support group has constantly lobbied for the provision of this service but to no avail. When best practice is mentioned with regard to the provision of health services, it can be clearly seen that any place within the Western Health Board area is two hours from Galway. That is not to mention the distance between many remote locations in this area and Dublin or Cork, where the service in question is currently provided.
The Minister will agree that this is a further indication that the disadvantages endured by the west are being perpetuated by decisions, such as that to which I refer, which will deny this particular service to the many parents in the west who are campaigning for its provision. These people have seen their loved ones, family or children, suffer severely and endure terrible handicaps as a result of very simple falls or accidents. Worse still, they may have witnessed the deaths of people who could not be moved from the western area to Dublin or Cork following serious brain haemorrhages or similar difficulties.
My plea is that the Minister should expedite the review, if that is necessary, or else indicate provisional acceptance to the provider of the offered facility. We take grants similar to this for research and development in education. When people's lives are at stake, I cannot understand why the Minister cannot embrace this generous gift with open arms.
People are putting about a rumour that there must be strings attached. All the necessary assurances that there are no such strings attached to this generous offer have been provided. I beg the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, to intercede with his senior colleague to ensure that approval is sanctioned – as soon as possible and even on a temporary basis – so that this offer can be consolidated for the west, particularly if the funding for the provisional services, space and staff cannot be provided by the Government at present.