Mental Health Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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David Cullinane (SF), Waterford

I very much hope that the new adult mental health unit will progress as quickly as possible. I agree with the location and I want to see it developed as fast as it can be. There was also a promise for a 96-bed ward block over five storeys at University Hospital Waterford, and a multi-storey car park. The Minister of State issued a press statement a number of years ago where she said there was a proposal for a two-floor vertical extension over the existing outpatients department, to provide an additional 36 consulting rooms, four treatment rooms, four measurement rooms and two virtual consultation rooms.
I do not know the status of that plan at the moment. I have been tabling parliamentary questions seeking updates on all of these projects. We need the additional 96 beds, we need the underground car park and we need the two-storey extension to the lab, but we also need the vertical two-storey extension that the Minister of State talked about and all that additional space. The frustration is that these projects are listed in the capital plan, or maybe some of them are not now listed. People do not know if we are going to get them, if they are funded or how quickly they will be delivered. We all want the best for our regional and local hospitals. I raise these projects because they are really important in the context of University Hospital Waterford.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21