Prior to the 2002 general election, the Taoiseach and the current Minister for Foreign Affairs promised that a CAT scanner would be delivered to hospitals in Dundalk and Monaghan. On my way here this morning, a pedestrian handed me a copy of the Daily Mail, which has a front page picture of boxes containing a CAT scanner in a laundry room in the hospital in Dundalk. Is this the delivery of the world class health service that the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs committed to provide the good people of Dundalk in 2002?

I understand the HSE has now indicated that this machine will be operational in the hospital in approximately a month. It is time to take stock of the effort made by the voluntary fundraising committee there. I will wait until the Minister for Foreign Affairs finishes his briefing. Has the Minister told the Taoiseach the answer to the question?

He was not happy. He would have it done.

I am providing the correct details. The Deputy is ill-informed.

Is it a washing machine?

If I am ill-informed about a matter as serious as this——

The Deputy is ill-informed.

——I assume the Taoiseach will give us the answer when he replies to the question.

He has a much better source than the Daily Mail.

Prior to the 2002 general election, both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs committed themselves to delivering the CAT scanner but it now lies in a laundry room in the hospital in Dundalk. Humidity may well affect it.

The Minister is off again.

There are further briefings from the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The medical experts.

The newspaper asks what is going on and I would like to know the answer. People in Dundalk raised €350,000.

He is at it again.

A further briefing.

Perhaps the Minister would like to take the Order of Business.

He is correcting the Deputy.

I am sure he would.

Deputy Kenny's time is concluded.

The Deputy is pathetic. It is a good story and Deputy Kenny is trying to ruin it.

If the Minister for Foreign Affairs has finished briefing the Taoiseach, I will continue.

Deputy Kenny, without interruption.

The Minister should stand up.

He is making a point.

People in Dundalk raised €350,000 voluntarily for the delivery and service of this CAT scanner. However, people in Dundalk are now travelling 20 miles to Drogheda to an overworked system for X-rays. We have been told by the Government that the service will be up and running in less than 12 months.

Mr. Finbar Fitzpatrick is sending texts to the Deputy.

The Deputy is part of a tabloid party.

I would like to know from the Taoiseach and on behalf of the Minister for Foreign Affairs what is going on. Is this the delivery of the promise made by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs? A CAT scanner worth €1 million is in a laundry room in the hospital in Dundalk when people are queuing for necessary treatment. People have to travel to Drogheda to a system that is already clearly overworked.

The Deputy's time is concluded.

What is going on in view of this presentation of another promise by the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats Government?

A tabloid party.

The Minister's party is all washed up.

Allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption.

Zero.

A tabloid party.

Does the Minister know what zero means?

I request Ministers and Members on the Opposition benches to allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption.

A tabloid leader of a tabloid party.

The Government is investing €10 million in Louth County Hospital in Dundalk, with two theatres and significant other facilities going in there. It is all very good for the patients and community in County Louth. There was no issue about 2002 and the Minister for Foreign Affairs was informing me of the fundraising committee set up two years ago. I acknowledge the €350,000 raised by the excellent members of that committee and everybody who supported them.

The CAT scanner cost €2 million and was delivered in November. It requires work totalling approximately €700,000 before installation. The work, involving an electrical upgrade, is under way and the scanner will be fully installed next month.

Will it be in before the election?

Will it be installed before the election?

That would depend on when the election will be.

It will be obsolete.

The Taoiseach, without interruption.

The CAT scanner will be operational next month.

Before the election.

Yes.

That is a promise.

I have no doubt the excellent report in this morning's newspaper will be repeated tomorrow with the same headline, giving the facts.

Hear, hear.

I thank the Taoiseach for clarifying the extent of the required upgrade and the electrical rewiring that must take place. This exemplifies that there appears to be no synchronised plan at all for the training of staff or for the delivery of the dates of service. Neither is there any cohesion in terms of the approach to the management of trauma in this or other hospitals.

The Taoiseach has stated the scanner will be operational within a month, or 7 March. Will he confirm that the necessary staff are in place to run the service? I understand there is a shortage of approximately 15 to 20 radiographers in the Dundalk hospital, so are these people in place or have they been trained? I understand at least three consultant radiologists are required for 24-hour cover seven days a week. Are these people in situ to provide the service by 7 March? I understand that anaesthetic cover and nursing cover is also needed. Will the Taoiseach confirm that the necessary staff are in place to provide the service by 7 March, the date, he has stated, this machine will be operational? It appears as if the delivery of the promise, in so far as the purchase of the equipment is concerned, is the easiest part. That is what the Government has been doing for the past ten years in spending €60 billion, much of which was wasted, and now a €2 million machine lies idle in a laundry room.

Will the Taoiseach confirm that the training, the cohesion, the radiologists, the 15 to 20 radiographers, the anaesthetic cover and the nursing cover have been put in place to provide 24-hour cover seven days a week for the people of Dundalk and that part of the north east who have been obstructed and given an inferior service for so long, not only in this area but in others?

When the Taoiseach is at it, he should tell us about the Monaghan CT scanner.

Is Deputy Crawford a leader?

If we had not provided the €2 million for equipment or the €10 million for the new facilities, that would have been a reasonable argument. I acknowledge the work of the local fundraising committee that raised €350,000. Given that the Government paid fully for the CT scanner machine, the money raised has been used for ultrasound equipment. A CT scanner is a sophisticated and highly specialised machine.

It is in the laundry room.

Like the Government.

If Deputies want to raise serious issues and are in any way interested in the patients in Dundalk, they should at least listen to the facts. If they are merely interested in playing tabloid headlines, that is all right too and there is no point in me answering. If Deputies want information for the people in County Louth, they should at least listen to the facts.

The work was necessary. The CT scanner obviously cannot be brought in and plugged into a wall. A sum of €700,000 was required for necessary work. A committee within the area was set up to look at all the aspects of purchasing a CT scanner and it will be commissioned by March 2007 — I did not state or ask for a specific date. It will be up and running afterwards.

The HSE worked out the agreement and it took some time, as is always the case, to decide the staffing levels required. Those negotiations are finished. Deputy Kenny referred to 24-hour cover seven days a week. I do not wish that our machines worked 24-7 because that would be unreasonable but, as the Deputy will be aware, one of the issues with reform of the health service is that we want to extend the hours in which sophisticated machinery works. Whatever hours are settled on, the matter has been agreed.

In reply to Deputy Kenny's question, €10 million is being invested in Dundalk hospital, we purchased a €2 million CT scanner, €700,000 of electrical work is under way and is to be finished next month, the staff is in place for whatever was agreed between the HSE and the local management for the running of it and it will be operational shortly after it is fully installed in March.