The Taoiseach does not have a notion.

I remind the Taoiseach of the words he delivered in Waterford in July 2017, when he signalled he was the future. He said, "So long as I am Taoiseach Waterford will not be neglected or forgotten." I remember well the hope his speech inspired as a signal that the vicious perishing unleashed by the Administration of his predecessor, Enda Kenny, was coming to an end. We surveyed the wreckage of the then Government's disastrous hospital groups strategy, which had led to the chaotic asset-stripping of our regional hospital system by a parochial Cork. That left us with what is still the worst funded model 4 hospital in the country: an outlier with the lowest ratio of staff and beds to citizens and patients of any model 4 hospital. For the Taoiseach's information, by some margin Cork hospital is the best resourced model 4 hospital in the group. It is odd that we never hear much about the best and worst resourced parts of our public sector. Precious few comparative data are ever made public by the Government.

Of course, the Taoiseach knows all of this. He knows what his successive Administrations have done in Waterford and done to Waterford. That is likely why his party, which in 2011 had half of the seats in the south-east region, or seven of the 14 available, today has just two. He knows the data on health spending and he knows the efficient and the competent versus the incompetent and the wasteful. He certainly knows well run from mismanaged. He is also acutely aware of the politically protected parts of our public sector. Those outside such protections are fair game for the plucking. After 12 years, I think it is fair to say the Taoiseach also knows the shell game of commissioning a report to hide a political decision he or his Government cannot defend. The trouble is that we in Waterford know it too.

Will the Taoiseach deliver 24-7 cardiac care to Waterford and the south-east region before the end of this Government? Will he give a commitment to that? His Government still stands behind the Herity report, which was commissioned in 2015 and is a shoddy and shocking piece of work that got basic facts completely wrong. In fact, there still remains a typo in the headline title. With Dr. Herity's abysmal efforts blown out of the water, the Taoiseach's Government commissioned a national review of specialist cardiac services, which started its work in 2018, over five years ago - six months, in fact, after the Taoiseach's "Waterford will not be neglected" speech. Five years have passed, and we have never heard from it again. When will the Taoiseach's Government stop protecting Cork consultants' private practices? When will the people of Waterford and its surrounds have an equitable, 24-7, lifesaving standard of emergency cardiac care at University Hospital Waterford?

I thank the Deputy. I remember that speech well. I made it at Bausch + Lomb, on the outskirts of Waterford city, at a jobs announcement, and I committed to a number of things happening in Waterford. I was back there recently - the Deputy was with me for some of it - and I was so pleased to see the amount of progress that has been made in the five or six years since then. I said there would be a focus on getting good, well-paid jobs into Waterford. About 600 IDA jobs have been announced in Waterford in that period, with major investments happening, as the Deputy has acknowledged in other forums. I said we would finally deliver a university for the south east and that has been done with the South East Technological University, which I visited a few weeks ago. We said we would get the North Quays development under way. The Deputy was there for the sod-turning, in the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and me, not too long ago. This €200 million investment in the south east will transform that city and make it the vibrant urban centre of the south east that it should be. I said we would invest in Waterford hospital and we have, with the Dunmore wing in particular, which I visited only a few weeks ago. I was really impressed to see that. The Deputy knows how much things have improved in respect of the emergency department and overcrowding there, palliative care and many other things.

The particular issue the Deputy zeroed in on in his question, which is entirely reasonable, was the cath lab. When I made that speech in 2017, it did not exist. There were questions as to whether there would ever be a second cath lab in Waterford. I was in the second cath lab in Waterford a few weeks ago. The Government delivered on that and built it, and it is now ready to be used. As things stand, it is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.

The hospital has confirmed that extended cardiac service hours for the existing cath lab commenced from 5 September. That means the existing cath lab is now open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. The next step, which we are committed to making happen, is to ensure there is a service from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week and then to build up to a 24-hour service. Previously, we did not have the infrastructure or the staff. We now have the infrastructure. It is now a case of putting all the staff in place, agreeing the rotas and so on. The lab does exist, however. Waterford has a second cath lab and we will be able to move to a seven-day service next. The plan is to move to a 24-hour service after that, subject to being able to get the staffing in place.

I am glad to hear the Taoiseach finally acknowledge there is a roadmap to get to a 24-7 service. It is the first time that has been acknowledged in this House. I invited him to come to Waterford and visit University Hospital Waterford, so I was very glad to see him there. As I pointed out to him in private conversation, there are still exceptional challenges at the hospital, not least the lack of capital expansion. At least four projects there have, in essence, been mothballed for the past year and they are critical in getting community services and other services off the acute hospital site so that capacity can be expanded. I have engaged with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, through the past year to drive policy to deliver that expansion but, unfortunately, it is not happening.

I point out to the Taoiseach that the estates office for the HSE is based in County Kilkenny and the regional model 4, covering the south east, is based in Waterford. It is about time for there to be an estates office on the campus of University Hospital Waterford in order that it can be liaised with directly to understand what is causing all these delays.

It is only right to recognise that there has been considerable investment in the hospital in recent years, with a 20% increase in staff and a 20% increase in the budget since the Government came into office. The new Dunmore wing is an impressive addition to the hospital, with extra bed capacity, as well as extra services in the palliative care wing. There is finally now a second cath lab in the hospital, which is great to see. Given the number of meetings I had on it through the years, it was great to visit it and see that it exists. It can now be made proper use of in the coming months. I acknowledge the hospital needs further investment. The Deputy is right about that. The only thing we will see in Waterford is an increasing population and, like other parts of the country, an ageing population. We need to see the hospital developed and we need it to have more services, including additional bed capacity, added. That is the kind of thing I discussed in detail with the clinical team and the hospital manager when I visited the hospital. I am determined to work with the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to get the funding to make sure that happens.