Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am having a meeting tomorrow with Deputy Cullinane and Oireachtas Members from Waterford on a cross-party basis. I respect the way they work on a cross-party basis on issues of importance in the south east as it is effective. I am very aware of concerns of people in the south east over this issue. They have a new state-of-the art facility in the shape of the Dunmore wing, which will house an incredible palliative care facility. My understanding is that the south-east palliative care centre was constructed at a cost of €31.26 million and I thank the Waterford hospice movement which I think has agreed to provide €6 million to the HSE towards the cost of the lower level and level 1 palliative care services. There is incredible community support for this and it will be the first inpatient and day service specialist care unit for the south east and will also cover Carlow, Kilkenny, south Tipperary and Wexford. When fully operational there will be 20 inpatient bedrooms with individual gardens for anybody who requires the expertise of specialist palliative care multidisciplinary teams.

There is an allocation of €300,000 for this year for this hospice and for a number of others. Deputies Donnelly and Brady will be aware of one in Wicklow. We cannot open the centre now until we have the certainty that the €4.8 million will be in place for 2020. I am very hopeful that we can resolve this matter together this week. I do not want to get involved in the minutiaebut there will be a time lag as it will take time to recruit the appropriate staff to provide the services. We have the funding of €300,000 to begin the process and my job is to make sure we have the funding for 2020 so that management can proceed with certainty.