Hospital Facilities
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-09
============================================================

Seán Kyne (FG), Galway West

I thank the Minister for that response. Certainly, the appointment of the design team is hugely welcome and a positive step. She will be aware of the Mater Hospital during the Covid pandemic and the 98-bed block that was built in two years. These things can be done where there is urgency. We have lost a lot of time in Galway, through no fault of the Minister's, because we have debated for too long whether we will redevelop UHG or move to Merlin Park. We have lost years, unfortunately, as well as money.
There is a strong case for the Minister, the HSE and the Department of public expenditure to look at seeking a derogation from the standard HSE design process by combining stages 1 to 3 into a single integrated activity. There is a strong and defensible basis for this approach. Both blocks A and B are primarily bed-based accommodation, supported by well-established HSE guidance and standard approval layouts. Considering the loss of a number of years in Galway, would the Minister see merit in engaging with the Department of public expenditure and reform on fast-tracking these design stages?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-09