Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle.

Similar to a previous Fianna Fáil Cork leader, senior hurling politics is a game the Tánaiste plays well. First the ball, but if unsuccessful then the player.

This is not about me but it is about a critical life-saving service for 600,000 people with whom the Government is playing politics. Consider for instance that having commissioned the national cardiac review in 2017, seven years later it is still sitting unpublished on the desk of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, or the failure to deliver the required cardiac day ward promised with the cath lab extension, or the recent announcement by the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, of cuts to University Hospital Waterford, UHW, citing elective inefficiency, while having closed down the highly effective Kilcreene surgery unit just six months ago, and having completely cleaved UHW from a cent of last July's €350 million model 4 capital programme. The Tánaiste may wonder why he is not loved in the south east. I ask him to fulfil his promise to deliver 24-7 service to the south east.

On 19 October 2021, during Leaders' Questions, I asked the Tánaiste, who was then Taoiseach, when he envisaged increasing cardiac services in University Hospital Waterford. In raising this question I reminded him of the pre-election promise he made to almost 600,000 people who rely on that model 4 hospital for acute access. In 2016 the Tánaiste stood on the grounds of UHW beside his then council candidate, and now our junior Minister for health, and promised to provide 24-7 cardiac care to the south-east region. That photo and promise had a direct connection to re-establishing a Fianna Fáil seat in Waterford and strengthening Fianna Fáil across the region. The Tánaiste is not a novice politician unaware of how government works. He stood for a photo as a former Minister for Health and as a lifelong student of senior hurling politics. On 19 October 2021, the Tánaiste's answer to me in the House said to the people of the region that he was going to dramatically expand cardiac provision. He has, to a certain extent. After five years of foot-dragging, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, opened the second cath lab last summer. The service has increased from 40 to 60 hours per week, and from 23% of the week recovered to 35%. There are still 108 hours of every week without emergency cardiac care. The Tánaiste's Ministers' recurring promises for a seven-day service have not materialised.

On 7 July, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly announced at UHW that the seven-day service would commence by year end. On 7 December, on morning radio, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, seeing that nothing had advanced, announced that needed recruitment would commence in January and that the seven-day service would be up and running by the end of March. March then bowed out with still nothing progressed and the Minister returned to Damien Tiernan's radio show to announce that recruitment would begin immediately. As these posts had not been advertised, I can only assume that the funding has not been given.

This is a burning issue in the south east. It is an equality issue. People have marched in the streets over this issue. Will the Tánaiste deliver on his promise?

Deputy Shanahan has an undue paranoia of Cork hurling.

We are playing ye on Sunday.

There you go again, Tánaiste.

No, I am not. Deputy Shanahan seems obsessed with senior hurling and Cork. We will park that for a moment.

Since this Government came into office, there has been a very focused prioritisation and commitment to the south east on a whole range of investments. At different times when I have engaged with the Deputy, he has acknowledged that, particularly with regard to health. Then, every now and again, he goes back to the original script, which is one where he endeavours to portray the Government as not committed to Waterford or to the south east, and that could not be further from the truth. With the presence of Deputy Butler as a Minister of State and other Deputies and public representatives from Waterford, issues pertaining to Waterford in the south east are always very high on our agenda.

There has been very strong employment growth across the regions, including the south east. The number of jobs in the south east has gone up 30% under this Government. That is across all of the various agency employment and supports from all of the various agencies, etc.

From foreign direct investment, FDI, perspective, the south-east region has been strong over the past five years with employment going up 25% among IDA Ireland clients, with 86 IDA Ireland-client companies employing approximately 15,500 people in the south east. There are 46 in Waterford alone, and then there is the Waterford North Quays project, and so forth.

On University Hospital Waterford, people paint pictures of decline and decay yet then one reads and sees the staffing at the hospital has gone up by 42% since 2019. That is close to 829 additional people working in the hospital. The Deputy then says nothing is being done and all of that. It just does not add up. There comes a time when we need balance in public commentary. People also need to acknowledge progress when progress happens. There are 46 more consultants in Waterford hospital and 97 more non-consultant hospital doctors, 348 more nurses and midwives, as well as 128 more health and social care professionals. The budget in 2019 was €201 million for the hospital and it has now grown by €89 million to approximately €219 million. That is 44% of an increase in funding in five years to University Hospital Waterford with an additional 43 acute hospital beds.

The planning application for the surgical hub has been submitted. It is regularly praised as a hospital for not having patients on trolleys. As the Deputy said, the second cath lab opened in September 2023. It operates five days per week, Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 24 healthcare staff were provided to open the second cath lab. In September 2022, the opening hours for the first cath lab were extended to 8 p.m. from Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. The Minister for Health has made it clear that additional staff will be hired for the hospital in 2024 to complement existing services and extend the opening hours, as I said. The point is-----

We are way over time.

-----that in this Dáil, demonstrable and clear progress has been made on cardiac services and the cath lab, in addition to a wide range of other healthcare services and the broader economic developments in this area.

I hope in the future, when the Tánaiste comes in and starts quoting statistics, that he will refer to money rather than percentages. I remind him that University Hospital Waterford, which has one of the largest patient catchments in the country, has the lowest funding and lowest numbers of staff and beds of all model 4 hospitals in the country. It is a case of taking a hospital that was left moribund for two decades, bringing it up some amount and then telling us that we have had amazing delivery. We certainly have not. I remind the Tánaiste that 22,000 people marched in Waterford in 2013 because of issues with our university and hospital. To date, neither the university nor the hospital has been addressed, especially cardiac care delivery. This is an equality issue. Why should the people of the south-east region continue to suffer without access to emergency heart attack services at University Hospital Waterford every weekend? How is that fair in any part of this country? It is patently unfair. The Tánaiste took electoral aggrandisement when promised in 2016 that he would deliver a 24-7 service. We still do not even have a weekend service. I ask him to deliver properly on his promises. That is all I am asking him to do.

The extra staff have been appointed to the cath lab-----

The seven-day service is not there.

-----and the hours extended. I did not give percentages to the Deputy. Over the five years, €89 million in addition to the base figure has been allocated. I gave the figures in respect of the staff, not percentages, when I said-----

Staff numbers are still among the lowest in the country.

-----that some 829 additional staff had been appointed-----

It is the lowest resourced model 4 hospital.

-----including 46 more consultants, 97 more non-consultant hospital doctors and 348 more nurses. I gave actual figures on real people who have been recruited to work in University Hospital Waterford, and rightly so. It is a great hospital, one of the better performing hospitals in the country.

Hear, hear.

We need to continue to resource the hospital and broaden services.

Correct.

The Deputy knows that the elephant in the room, which he has not referenced, is clinical decision-making, national clinical standards and so on.

Publish the national report on it.

The Deputy knows the background of everything to do with the cath lab issue.

The Tánaiste should publish the national report on it.

To be fair to the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, she has fought for this tenaciously. I have to give her credit. It resulted in a second cath lab being put in place, the extension of the hours and the additional staff to staff it. We will keep at it.