The Government approved the preliminary business cases for Cork and Galway, and the preferred sites for the two Dublin facilities. Following a public tender competition, the HSE appointed a design team and project controls team at the end of 2024. The design team is progressing design and engagement to inform statutory planning submissions and the regulatory approvals required. I go back again to my infrastructure point. Surveys and site investigations have been conducted, which are informing the design and plannin…

I completely agree. It is important to note that engagement with planning authorities is under way on agreement in regard to the principle of design once, build four times. I really cannot overstate that there is no room for local variation or perspectives. This is about doing something in the most efficient way and also having the ability to move between the different elective hospitals without any difficulty whatsoever. These elective hospitals will alleviate pressure on major hospitals. Precisely as the Deputy s…

While I agree with the Deputy, local issues that come up, including site selection and other questions like that, all delay the delivery of the different hospitals. We simply need to move forward with all of them in the most efficient way. In Cork, the HSE is progressing that enabling package in advance of the main construction, including pitch and putt relocation, site clearance and demolition work, site access, roadworks and the planning applications to be submitted on a phased basis from September 2025 while wor…

The Government is committed to the implementation of the national cancer strategy and to improving the services patients receive. Infrastructural developments are a key enabler of timely cancer detection and treatment. Since the launch of the strategy in 2017, more than €140 million has been invested in capital infrastructure. This funding has improved cancer facilities throughout the country. It has delivered the new national cervical screening laboratory hospital and two new radiation oncology facilities in Cork …

The Deputy raised a number of issues, which I will try to take in turn. On medicines, approval for reimbursement by the HSE was given for 74 cancer drugs between 2021 and 2024. The total spend on cancer drugs in that period exceeded €645 million. We have launched an application tracker and have recruited an additional 34 staff, which is a 100% increase. I expect to see that move more quickly. It is also important that applications are made in a timely way. It is a two-stage process, as the Deputy will understand. W…

I agree with the Deputy. The point about diagnostics is important. It is one of the reasons it is important for me to visit different hospitals and understand the efficiency of their work. Sligo hospital, for example, has two CT machines beside each other, which allows staff to move back and forth between them and thereby increase the number of scans being conducted. Some hospitals use their CT machines between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Others use them between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. This inconsistency can have an impact on diag…

I thank the Deputy. In 2016 a capital programme for older persons residential centres was developed in response to the introduction of HIQA's national residential care standards for older people and the requirement that all facilities providing long-stay beds be registered with HIQA. This is a programme to replace, upgrade and refurbish community nursing units as appropriate at 89 locations. The new 50-bed community nursing unit in Midleton is part of the programme. At the end of 2024, 51 community nursing units we…

I will address the delay, such as it is. We want to anticipate the workforce planning is there to ensure it is operational. The delay is one that is essential for HIQA. On the Deputy's question about the plan, when a HSE-owned property has been vacated by a health service, we have to determine whether it is surplus to health requirements in the area. That involves HSE engagement with other HSE services to establish whether they have a need for the property. I would be very interested in the Deputy's perspective, re…

A scoping exercise with regard to the existing Midleton Community Hospital site is under way to identity possible future uses which align with existing service needs. My view is that we need healthcare capacity and we need to think about that in every way. There are multiple stakeholders. The Deputy's voice and view will be important in relation to that. With a rising population, we are trying to increase capacity in suitable ways. Not every site is suitable. Some are better sold or just moved forward. The HSE is n…

The Government commits to opening surgical hubs and assessing the business case for a surgical hub in the north west. The HSE is developing that and I have yet to receive it. The factors the HSE will take into account include the population distribution. I had a very good visit to Letterkenny hospital last week and note its funding has increased by over 54% in recent years. The staff number has increased by a quarter and there has been a very significant investment, but it is also true that the surgeons in the hosp…

I am conscious that the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O’Connor, has responsibility for this. I might ask her to come back to the Deputy directly on the details on this. I know she is very interested in this and has a very strong focus on consultation. I might ask her to come back to the Deputy with her ideas.

I have been told to expect that report from HIQA in May. I have no further details beyond that. We always debate matters in the Dáil, so there is no difficulty with that. I would point out two things. The Deputy is right about Limerick. It is under particular pressure. The opening of the 96-bed block is absolutely essential to alleviate that pressure. Other than that, there are sites of considerable concern that cannot be explained in the same way. I want to call out St. Vincent’s hospital in particular as well as …

We are here today because the HIQA review has laid bare significant failures at Children’s Health Ireland, failures that I believe have put children at risk of harm. Children who deserved the very highest standards of care were failed in process, duty and responsibility. We must confront that failure openly, honestly and with a determination to make sure it does not happen again and to regain trust. Every year, hundreds of thousands of children, accompanied by their parents, guardians and other loved ones, walk thr…

Forgive me. My focus is on the opening of the hospital, the detail of the work of improving capacity in spinal surgeries, making sure that the posts we have funded are recruited, making sure that communications are substantially improved that people are not let down in that way, and making sure that people can have confidence. Of course, I will come to the House at the earliest opportunity that I have received the different reports that we are yet outstanding. I cannot speak about them before them because I have no…

They do not.

I thank Deputies for all of their contributions, both in this debate tonight and in different ways as we work together. We are having this debate as a direct result of the HIQA report, which dealt with three cases of the incorrect insertion of non-surgical grade materials into the bodies of young children. I was asked this evening whether I had apologised to the families; it was the first line of my statement. The very first thing I did was to apologise to the families directly. I have offered to meet them, and I a…

-----or oversight that it might otherwise have. For example, of the 12 members, four are nominated by the Minister, four are nominated by the board itself and approved by the Minister and the chairperson is chosen by the members of the board. Therefore, it is a bit different. My concern is that, whatever happens 16 or 18 months from now, we have a functional governance structure that enables us to do those two most important things. However, I hear what the Deputies have said to me about their perspectives on this …

This is completely wrong.

Is this deliberate?

It has not been published.