The "watering-down" of promised orthopaedic services at a West of Ireland hospital has been described as unacceptable.
Newly elected Mayo TD, Dr Jerry Cowley, initiated the campaign for a Mayo orthopaedic unit in 1991 and secured the commitment for the facility in the 1994 by-election.
He had highlighted the situation where more than 2,500 people travel to Galway for orthopaedic services while orthopaedic beds existed, and an orthopaedic theatre still lies idle, at the Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar.
Comhairle na nOispidéal, he said, has given approval for the appointment of three consultant orthopaedic surgeons at Mayo General but he questioned the commitment to Mayo of what is being proposed.
Dr Cowley said: "While I welcome the announcement that approval has been given to the appointment of three orthopaedic surgeons for Mayo, what is now being proposed is a shared commitment with Galway.
"My understanding is that each surgeon will have to contribute nine hours to Galway and 29 hours to Mayo. This will mean that each surgeon will have to share time with Galway, instead of being dedicated to Mayo, and is a recipe for an additional Galway service rather than a dedicated Mayo one. I think that this is unacceptable.
"While I can see benefit in cooperation between hospitals, this to me is a watering down of the service I fought so hard for over the years."