Sir, - I listen with increasing dismay to our Minister for Health talking about Tallaght Hospital.
Obviously, Mr Brian Cowen does not live in Tallaght, and has not had to avail of the wonderful services offered by our new hospital. I have lived here for over 30 years, and, like every other resident of Tallaght, counted the days until I would not have to find my way to St James's Hospital in the many emergencies with which we've had to cope during this time.
At last the day arrived, and our beautiful hospital opened its doors, without any fuss. Within a week I had to bring a neighbour to the Accidents & Emergency Department. The courtesy and care we experienced was unlike any I have ever experienced, anywhere. From the staff in the car-park who went out of their way to help everybody, to the staff in reception who treated us like treasured friends, to the nurses who cared not only for my neighbour who was injured, but also for me. And then the young doctor arrived and got down on his knees so that he could speak face-to-face to my elderly, frightened, neighbour. I can honestly say that our hospital is not only state-of-the-art as far as equipment is concerned, but as far as care and concern and sheer humanity is concerned, it is unsurpassed in my experience.
Now Mr Cowen comes along and speaks about how all he wanted them to do was "get everyone bedded down", and then he would decide whether or how much money he would give them. Was he speaking about a herd of cattle which was being moved from the three city hospitals? He didn't even give credit to the Hospital's Board of Management and its wonderful Chief Executive for the fact that all those patients were "bedded down" without the slightest hiccup or break in their treatment; for the fact that all those nurses and doctors and administrative staff relocated without the slightest thing going wrong. Such a transition doesn't happen by chance, but is thanks to the careful preparation and planning, and the caring ethic, of the great man we have lost to Toronto.
No, said Mr Cowen, "I am the Minister for Health, and I decide what the budget is to be." Well, I can tell Mr Cowen, that he and his colleagues in the Fianna Fail Party have lost my vote for ever, and I would venture to guess, the votes of anyone in Tallaght who is as dismayed as I am that his pennypinching policies are going to reduce our wonderful, 21st-century hospital to the level of all the other hospitals for which he is responsible. Please God, he won't be Minister for Health for much longer. - Yours, etc., N. O'Connor,
Tallaght, Dublin 24.