: When Wilton Hospital is completed will there be a nurses' home there?

: Yes, for student nurses. We have approved accommodation for 40 places in the hospital already which will include some nurses. An additional proposal is now being considered for places for 100 student nurses.

: When is it expected that a decision will be made in that?

: Very shortly.

: After a protracted delay.

: In plenty of time for their provision.

: Is it not correct that the hospital is due to open at the beginning of next year?

: That is being considered.

: Will the home be open then?

: There will be 40 places in the accommodation including serving nurses.

: Will the student nurses' home be provided at the same time as the hospital?

: Possibly not.

: How much behind the opening of the hospital will be the opening of the student nurses' home?

: That depends on the accommodation to be provided, but there will be no undue delay.

: Is there no delay in the sanction being given by the Department?

: No. When proposals come into my Department there is no delay in dealing with them. A number of factors have to be considered at local and health board level in regard to the provision of this accommodation.

: Have they been considered and passed?

: They are still under consideration.

: One at a time please, question and answer.

: My responsibility in this matter is to approve proposals put to me by the health board. There was no delay in the approving of any proposals put to me by the health boards in regard to Wilton Hospital.

: Is it true that the final proposals have been put to the Minister by the health board and have been sent back by his Department for relatively minor changes asked for by the Department with the intention of putting the matter on the long finger?

: That is not so. There is no question of putting it on the long finger. I am as anxious as anybody else that Wilton Hospital is opened as quickly as possible and fully and adequately staffed.

: How many times have what the health board considered to be final proposals been sent back by the Department for changes?

: They have not been sent back at all. The Deputy knows that when proposals come to a Government Department from a subsidiary body like a health board they have to be fully considered and examined before approval can be given. I am stating to the House that there is no unnecessary delay on the part of my Department in approving this proposal and there will not be.

: Are the final proposals of the Southern Health Board with the Minister's Department now?

: Yes.

: That is not what the Minister said earlier. He said that many things locally had to be decided before they came to his Department.

: All these things are still under discussion.

: Are they being discussed in the Department?

: No, they are being discussed with the local authorities.

: The Minister said a minute ago that the final proposals had come from the Southern Health Board. If they were final then how is it that they are still being discussed locally?

: When proposals are submitted to us locally they may be in final form as far as the health board are concerned; but we have to examine them, discuss them in detail with the health board, ask questions about them, and make sure that they are in accordance with our regulations.

: Is that what is going on?

(Cavan-Monaghan): Is that where a lot of the delay takes place?

: The Deputy knows that these are long procedures. He knows that there is no undue and un-avoidable delay in my Department in dealing with these proposals.

: Have the Department many of these proposals in?

: Yes.

: When is it proposed to have provision of such accommodation for nurses?

: There will be no undue delay. In this year alone we have started Tralee Hospital, Beaumont and the Mater redevelopment programme. We will shortly be initiating the development of Cavan Hospital. That is not a bad programme.