Health capital projects delivery
Deputy Murphy raised commitments to local health capital projects and the concern over the children's hospital overrun. The Tánaiste said the HSE capital plan was being reviewed and projects with financial commitments would be delivered on a scheduled basis.
We all acknowledge that there is a large health budget of €17 billion but the overrun on the new children's hospital is a concern to everybody. I am concerned about a number of projects in my constituency and in the adjoining constituencies. Clear commitments were given in A Programme for a Partnership Government, as far as I understand it, and by Fine Gael prior to the last election. One of those commitments was the building of a 50 bed unit in St. Patrick's Community Hospital in Carrick-on-Shannon, another was the building of a 50 bed unit in the Sacred Heart Hospital in Roscommon and the final commitment was the building of a 50 bed unit at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, which is desperately needed because of the issues with the accident and emergency department. Will the Tánaiste assure me today that none of those three projects will be put on the back foot or pushed down the line because of the overspend in the new children's hospital?
Comment on this
The capital plan is being reviewed and finalised by the HSE, which was mentioned earlier in this House. As soon as that has been completed, it will be published and there will be clarity but the intention of the Government is that any project that has a financial commitment will be delivered but it is about the scheduling of that delivery.