As there are 18 Members wishing to speak, I ask that we stay within the time limits. Someone will lose out. I call Deputy McDonald.

I wish to raise the issue of staffing levels at the children’s hospital. A serious letter has been written by all 12 surgeons at the department of paediatric surgery and urology at Children’s Health Ireland. I believe it has gone to the Minister for Health. In this letter, the surgeons outline bizarrely that the plans for opening the new children’s hospital will see it understaffed from day one. The surgeons believe that they have been ignored and that the recommended workforce of 17 paediatric surgeons has not been factored in. In their words, they believe that will impact negatively on the provision of safe and sustainable services. They go on to outline their concerns that this risk has not been properly assessed. I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that this is an unacceptable situation. This hospital is now delayed five years and there still is no proper plan to open it. What will he do in respect of this staffing shortfall?

In the opening of any major hospital facility - I have experience of both sanctioning and providing the funding for some major facilities from my time as Minister for Health and Children - there is always a subsequent debate and issue around the proper commissioning and staffing of a hospital, particularly in the context of movement from the older facilities to the newer facility. I understand that Children’s Health Ireland has been working on this for quite some time and that there has been a whole range of structures set in place to facilitate a smooth transition from the existing paediatric hospitals and tertiary hospitals to the new national children’s hospital. I accept that this will be on a scale never experienced before, particularly in paediatric medicine. In my view, the new facility will be state-of-the-art. There will be a huge step change in terms of health and we need to match that with the required staffing levels.