In respect of University Hospital Waterford and the very sad and tragic event that took place over Sunday, I sympathise with the Power family after the tragic loss of Mr. Thomas Power.

As the Taoiseach knows, a young farmer who had only got married last year was told on arrival at University Hospital Waterford that the cardiac care unit was closed at the weekend. He was taken by ambulance to Cork, but he did not survive the journey. The Taoiseach knows that the provision in Waterford of a cardiac catheterisation laboratory, cath lab, as a matter of urgency has been under consideration for over one year. The south east has a population of 500,000 people and needs a 24-hour, seven days a week, cardiac service. It is a year since the mobile cath lab was announced and it still has not been delivered. On the programme for Government, when will what has been committed to be provided?

On the same issue, the Taoiseach will be aware of the genuine consternation in the entire south east, not only in the Waterford constituency but also mine, that a man lost his life over the weekend in Waterford because of the lack of a cath lab facility. It was our understanding that, pending the conclusion of the second review, a second mobile lab would be in place by the first quarter of this year, a commitment that has not been fulfilled. I ask the Taoiseach to indicate when the second mobile cath lab will be in place and when the full review of cath lab facilities in the south east will be concluded in order that we can have permanent facilities on a 24/7 basis.

As the Taoiseach is well aware, the provision of cardiology services in Waterford is time-sensitive. That means that from nine to five, Monday to Friday, we have a cath lab that is operational. It also means that from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. the following day there is no service. There is no service either at the weekend. On Saturday Mr. Thomas Power who had been married for 12 months and whose wife is expecting their first baby presented in pain at University Hospital Waterford in blazing sunshine. He was transferred to Cork University Hospital but only got as far as Dungarvan where he died of a cardiac arrest. The consultant told his sister that if he had been attended to in a cath lab, he would still be alive. We cannot continue any longer to be classed as second-class citizens in Waterford and the south east. A man has died.

I have raised this issue on numerous occasions through parliamentary questions and a Topical Issue as recently as two weeks ago. We fought it at election time. I am also from the south east - Kilkenny - and we have constantly raised this matter. We want services 24/7 in University Hospital Waterford but we are not getting them. This proves a point. We said it was going to happen and now it has. There is a family with a death on its hands, the cost of a service not being made available. Someone has to do something about it. We have a Minister of State who said he fought an election on it and that he would leave Government over it, but it is still not available.

The recent death of Thomas Power was the direct result of the lack of a full-time cath lab. It was wholly preventable. It is the triumph of bureaucracy over honesty and freedom for patients. The Taoiseach has family connections in Dungarvan. I met them here last week and wish them well. I represent south Tipperary and it is where we are going to go if anything happens. If the cath lab is put in place, it will have to operate on a 24/7 basis because at the last count there were 870 patients waiting for treatment at University Hospital Waterford. We have to act and cannot have another death. It was a travesty.

I join colleagues and other Deputies in extending my condolences to the Power family on the death of their loved one. I understand he was a patient who passed away while being transferred between hospitals in Waterford and Cork. I do not want to comment on an individual case in too much detail because of confidentiality and other issues. It would be premature, in the absence of a clinical case review, an inquest or an autopsy, to say precisely what the cause of death was and whether it could have been prevented if certain clinical decisions had not been made or if certain facilities had bed put in place. I have no doubt that there will be a clinical case review or an inquest, as appropriate, which will give us the answers we need.

In relation to the specific questions I have been asked about the second catheterisation laboratory, cath lab, the HSE has issued a tender for the provision of a temporary mobile cath lab. Obviously, tenders take a bit of time and it will depend on how many companies tender for it, etc. Given that it is now out to tender after various delays, it is anticipated that the second cath lab, the mobile cath lab, will be in place by September.

Separately, an additional €500,000 in funding has been provided to University Hospital Waterford to enable it to provide additional cath lab sessions every week as per Dr. Herity's recommendations and the cath lab will now be funded to provided 12 sessions, that is, 48 hours of activity per week. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has requested the HSE maximise the benefit for patients from this additional funding in respect of both additional sessions at the existing cath lab and also temporary use of the second cath lab when it arrives for a specific period in order to improve waiting times at the hospital.