Maidir le fíricí, yesterday the Taoiseach said that 10,000 social houses were built last year, so the Tánaiste might check the record when he accuses others of falsifying information. Faraor, táim ar ais arís go Páirc Mhuirlinne. Tá dhá obrádlann as úsáid de bharr na báistí atá ag stealladh isteach. Tá an dá obrádlann as ord. Tá litir agam atáim chun léamh isteach sa taifead, chomh dona is atá an liosta. I am raising Merlin Park Hospital again. I raised it with the Taoiseach in February and again over the past year. Unfortunately, in ainneoin rudaí a bheith ag feabhsú, tá siad ag dul in olcas. We now have 2,000 people suffering on a waiting list for serious surgery on shoulders and ankles. I ask the Tánaiste and his colleagues to put themselves in the position of those people who are now on a waiting list. The rain poured in while the Government was talking about a rainy day fund and it put two theatres out of operation. The list has gone up exponentially and I now have a letter from the consultant orthopaedic surgeon, on behalf of ten surgeons, telling us that the list is now 2,000 and has been accumulating on foot of the lack of infrastructure. The situation is becoming unbearable for patients who are clinically worsening as they wait to be admitted for surgery. They are clinically disimproving. At this stage, it is incumbent on senior management in either Saolta or the Health Service Executive to make a public statement to the people on its waiting list, either to say that it can handle the problem or that the problem is too big for it to address. It is unprecedented for a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, on behalf of nine others, to write to Deputies and to the Minister on more than one occasion to highlight this situation. He stated it is now becoming a growing regional crisis and it gave him no satisfaction to write that.

My question to the Tánaiste is as it was in February and all of last year. How could it be so difficult to put up two modular theatres? What type of health executive do we have in Saolta? It told us last February that tender documents had gone out and in May that contract documents had gone out, were about to be signed and the modular theatres were about to go up. On Tuesday, we found out that the whole process has been stopped. We do not know what happened but I know that more than 2,000 patients are suffering with no alternative arrangements having been made for them, with a series of misrepresentations from Saolta, even to the Minister for Health. He understood that the contracts had been signed. I have asked for an urgent meeting with the Minister for Health. I appeal again to the Government to take a hands-on approach and put itself in the position of any of those patients who are waiting for complex surgery because the Saolta University Health Care Group cannot provide modular theatres. What hope have we for a children's hospital?

I share the Deputy's frustration on this issue. She has asked this question before in this House and many other public representatives for Galway have also raised a lot of frustration with regard to this issue. As outlined and confirmed this week by my ministerial colleague, Deputy Finian McGrath, in a Topical Issue debate, the HSE has been obliged to terminate the procurement process to provide the orthopaedic modular units. I am assured that the HSE will commence a new procurement process as soon as possible. I think the Deputy knows the background to this. Leaks developed in the roof of the building on the campus of Merlin Park hospital that houses the hospital's two orthopaedic theatres in September 2017. Remedial works took place last year and one of those theatres has reopened but it has resulted in about one third less throughput, which has resulted in longer waiting lists. For a problem to be caused by a leak in a roof in September 2017 and for us to still be talking about a procurement process to get a modular unit in place to remedy that situation in 2019 should frustrate everybody in this House. That is why there needs to be a sense of real urgency to solve this problem as quickly as possible.

The tendering process was undertaken for the provision of two modular theatres for orthopaedics on the Merlin Park hospital site and a successful tender was selected for the project, contracts were engaged and were under discussion between both parties, and a planning application was submitted last December. Saolta advised that, unfortunately, contracts could not be executed and that the decision was taken to terminate the procurement process. Saolta has further advised that a revised procurement strategy is being put in place to restore full capacity at Merlin Park to immediately address the waiting list issues. The hospital is currently working to optimise current capacity to treat patients.

As for what went wrong, the HSE has now confirmed that it has terminated its letter of intent with Falcon Healthcare on this project after failing to reach agreement on the terms of the contract. Falcon Healthcare was attempting to remove key elements of the tender from the contract and the HSE could not accept the revised terms as they were in breach of what was tendered. As I said earlier, the HSE will now commence a new procurement process as quickly as it can. I can understand the frustration and will certainly pass that on to the Minister for Health, with whom I know Deputy Connolly has already raised the matter.

I thank the Tánaiste for the attempted answer and giving me a history lesson on the matter. It is beyond frustration and beyond anger. If a Government can stand over 2,000 people suffering and getting worse, there is something seriously wrong. If Saolta and the Health Service Executive cannot erect two modular theatres, which were supposed to be temporary, something is seriously wrong. We appeal to and ask the Government to take a hands-on approach. That was done by the Minister in October 2017. We had all the stakeholders somewhere in this building and they said the theatres would be provided. They have not been provided since then. I cannot stand here as an elected representative and talk about frustration. These people are suffering. Something is seriously wrong with management and decisions relating to management have to be made by the Minister. This is in a hospital that has 67 nursing vacancies, 35 physiotherapy and occupational therapy vacancies, 23 management and administration vacancies, which, on reflection, we may need fewer of, and 17 other vacancies which have not been identified.

It is not possible to stand here and talk about frustration. We need a solution to this. There has to be some way to put in modular theatres as a matter of urgency. They are temporary. We are avoiding the local authority for planning and many other things.

The Deputy knows as well as I do what happened. A procurement process went wrong because of a difference of view between the company involved and management. It fell apart and has now been terminated. It needs to be replaced as quickly as possible with a new process to deliver the infrastructure as quickly as it can allow. In the meantime one of the theatres is working, but the throughput is not what it would be if both theatres were up and running. I will, of course, pass on not only the Deputy's frustration but also that of the House generally on the issue to the Minister and the Department. We cannot simply bypass all procedures. There is a tendering and procurement process that the State needs to abide by. Because the last one fell apart, it needs to put a new process in place as quickly as possible. It also needs to finalise the planning permission because the application was only lodged in December. My understanding is further information has been requested and needs to be delivered by the applicant. In many ways, it is not possible to defend the timelines here and I am not attempting to do so. I will exert appropriate pressure to make sure the timelines are shortened to have the project concluded as quickly as possible. It should not be rocket science to put in place modular units to respond to a leak in a roof and some other issues that have emerged since September 2017. We need to conclude the project as speedily as possible.