asked the Minister for Health if funds will now be made available to enable the Southern Health Board to open the remaining wards of the new hospital in Tralee, County Kerry.

Tralee General Hospital has a total bed complement of 425 beds. To date 289 of these beds have been commissioned and these include new paediatric, neo-natal and orthopaedic units.

My Department have been in correspondence with the Southern Health Board concerning the opening of the psychiatric unit at Tralee General Hospital. In May of this year I agreed to provide the necessary funding to equip the unit on condition that resources would be transferred from St. Fintan's Hospital, Killarney in order to open the unit. Recent proposals from the board are being examined in my Department and it is hoped to discuss these with the board later this month.

There are no proposals from the Southern Health Board for the commissioning of the remaining unopened beds.