We all know the situation regarding the deferrals of chemotherapy sessions at Crumlin hospital for children last week, which was met with shock and frustration and caused distress for many families. Was there any engagement with the hospital concerned? Did the Minister for Health engage on this? We were told that bed capacity was the reason for the deferrals. Has action been taken?

I cannot speak for the Minister for Health but I am sure there was engagement. There was certainly engagement from my office with Children’s Health Ireland which manages the children's hospitals. The children's hospitals are particularly busy at the moment because of the respiratory syncytial virus, RSV. As we do not have single rooms in our very old children's hospitals, when a virus is rampant in one, there is significant demand and pressure on beds. In turn, beds have to be closed because of infection control. That will be very different with the new children's hospital. Every room in that hospital will be a single room. We will be able to deal with so many different infection control issues. There will even be rooms for parents to stay over.

As an interim measure, some additional beds are being opened over the winter period. It is only an interim solution, however. What we need is the new children's hospital. We needed it yesterday. It is a pity it was not built during the boom.