Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have read the report, as did the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and I think there is a very strong compelling case in the longer term for a new hospital for Cork, particularly a hospital that would concentrate on non-emergency care, such as electives and ambulatory care. As the Chairman can imagine, there are similar proposals for such hospitals all over the country. What we have asked the hospital groups to do through the course of 2016 is to develop a strategic plan as to how they see their hospital groups develop over ten years and how they would reconfigure services within those groups. That is the current situation; there is no specific provision for such a hospital in the existing capital plan that was just announced but I think it could happen in the future. The provision for the whole region has to be looked at comprehensively.