The people of Cork have been waiting over a decade for their new hospital. Site selection for the hospital was four years late. The Government had said the hospital would be open this year but now says it will not be fully operational until 2028. It has taken over a year to appoint a design team, so we have had missed target after missed target while people in Cork and the Munster region desperately need healthcare. Hospitals in Cork and across the region, as the Minister knows, are under massive pressure. Tens of thousands of people are on waiting lists. Elective surgeries at University Hospital Kerry, for example, were cancelled for three whole months. Can the Minister explain all of this delay, and why it is that now we learn construction will not commence until 2026 for this much-needed hospital for Cork and Munster?

I am familiar with this project. It has taken a long time to get to this stage with regard to site selection. This is an elective-only hospital, which is relatively new in Ireland in terms of structure. We are pushing as hard as we can to get it built as soon as we can. In the meantime, it is important to say that there are multiple projects at big hospital campuses like CUH, for example, that are also progressing at the same time, increasing capacity. We are seeing the kind of increases in staff numbers and bed capacity that we are seeing in other parts of the country in Cork and Kerry as well. That does not mean that we are not going to see pressure points at different times; of course we are. However, ultimately the capacity gap that is there and needs Government resources is getting a response from Government. As populations grow and as the age profile gets older, we will continue to invest heavily in Cork and other parts of the country.