As we all know, the impact of Covid-19 on the delivery of health services in the State has been catastrophic. We also know that waiting lists across nearly all medical specialties have increased significantly and that it will be years before we can finally determine the real magnitude of the crisis that has been created in non-Covid-related areas such as cancer, coronary and paediatric care. It also needs to be pointed out, however, that it was wrong of this Government to decide to close down cancer services during the pandemic while the restrictions where in place. Many medical experts asked for the services to remain open and they should have done.

There was another crisis in the making well before Covid-19 was even heard of and it is one that cannot and should not be cloaked by the focus on the pandemic. I am referring to the scandal that is the delivery of the national children's hospital project. This project was originally budgeted at €650 million. The cost escalated to €1.74 billion, with the most recent estimate now reported to be in excess of €2 billion. In February, the chief executive of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board told the Committee of Public Accounts that the hospital is not likely to be fully operational until 2024. This is a full two years after the original contractual end point of 2022.

We were also told in February that more than 700 claims have been lodged by various contractors against the project, with the amount associated with these thought to be in excess of €300 million. This project has become a chaotic financial albatross and a health nightmare. It will inevitably drain vital and much-needed resources away from other areas of healthcare. How could it not, given the scale of the moneys involved? It is a fact that this project will, at the very least, end up being €1 billion over budget before a sick child is even seen. To put into context what €1 billion euros could do in the area of health, I was informed, through a reply to a recent parliamentary question, that the total cost of implementing the entire national cancer strategy between now and 2026 would be in the region of €840 million.

I am also aware that the total net budget for adults' and children's palliative care last year was just over €100 million. That leaves us with €60 million that could be utilised. It is infuriating that the Taoiseach and his party, and the previous Government, had two opportunities to call a halt to this. In March 2017 and March 2019, the Rural Independent Group brought the issue to the Government's attention and called for a radical reassessment of the project.

First, I want to say to the Deputy that the health service has performed heroically during Covid-19 in dealing with the impact of the disease. The front-line workers right through to the administrators and senior management have worked very hard, night and day, to protect the people of this country. No services were restricted or closed down without the most serious consideration being given to the well-being of patients. Cancer services were not closed down in their entirety. Even during the first phase, they were not closed down. A whole range of issues happened, of course, in terms of screening programmes and so on and that has caused problems and challenges. There will be significant pressure on the health services now in terms of the restoration of services. In fact, hospitals right now are busier than they were even at the highest levels of activity in 2019. In a way, that is a good thing in terms of people coming back. We need to have a substantial programme to deal with delayed diagnoses and make sure we can accelerate programmes of intervention, diagnostics and so forth. That is something the Minister for Health, his Department and the HSE are very focused on. We have allocated significant funding specifically for the restoration of cancer services in the context of Covid-19 and services more generally.

In regard to the national children's hospital, the situation is well known. The Deputy said we had an opportunity to address it in 2017 and 2019, but we were not in government then. She needs to define what she means by a radical reappraisal or approach to this. She needs to spell out what she means because it is not clear.

It is the wrong site.

Does she mean stopping the project in its entirety? That is all done. The site was chosen independently a long time ago. Obviously, the objective now is to build a first-class paediatric hospital for the children of this country and for future generations. There have been very significant challenges in the context of the site and that is no secret. There have been significant issues and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board is undertaking an ongoing review of the project and is engaging with the Minister for Health and his Department. The Government continues to keep this matter under review. There remain challenges and the relationships between contractors and the development board have been challenging. We are dealing with the matter incrementally and on an ongoing basis. There is no magic wand that we can wave at this stage in regard to the project but we will stoically deal with it on a proper basis on behalf of the citizens of the country.

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. Our healthcare staff certainly were commendable and did a fantastic job. This chaos we have is not of their making. However, an expert in cancer care, Professor O'Reilly, has pointed out that we will see higher numbers of cancer patients for the next decade because services that should have been operational, including screening services, were not operational and, unfortunately, there will be delayed diagnoses.

I want to point out to the Taoiseach that when I call for a radical reassessment, I am talking about a very reasonable proposal to carry out an impact assessment and a re-evaluation of healthcare priorities and objectives. It is unfair that hundreds of millions will be taken out of healthcare while children are languishing on hospital waiting lists. I refer to children with scoliosis who need treatment, children who need audiology services and children who need speech and language therapy. It is those children who are suffering.

I appreciate the Deputy's concerns. By the way, I know Professor O'Reilly and he is an exceptional oncologist, if it is the same person we are talking about. Covid has had this impact, not the Government. Governments do not want to close down services willy-nilly. There is no agenda. We have allocated more resources to the health service in 2021 than ever before. Historic amounts have been allocated to health. The winter initiative plan alone, with €600 million in funding that we gave in advance to the HSE in October, was critical to facilitating the health services throughout the Christmas period and particularly during the third wave. That intervention was, perhaps, one of the most effective proactive interventions in quite a while. It did not get much attention because of the third wave and all that happened subsequently.

I am still at a loss as to what the Deputy is saying in terms of the children's hospital and a radical reappraisal. We cannot pull hundreds of millions out of that now. The topping out has happened and so forth. The Deputy needs to make a call here. What is she actually recommending to the Government? Is she saying we should pull the project? Is she saying we should reduce the scale of the project? I am unclear on this.

There needs to be an assessment.

I do not know what that means.

The time is up.