Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have met representatives of the Rotunda and have visited the hospital on numerous occasions. I was in direct contact with the Rotunda as recently as the last couple of days. I was not in a position to attend the meeting to which the Deputy refers. To be clear, we need to do something to help the Rotunda - of that there is no doubt. The plan is to move the Rotunda Hospital to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown but that will not happen today or tomorrow. In the interim, things need to happen and I accept that. I also accept that the Rotunda has put forward a plan. I am the Minister for Health in the Department of Health and we work with officials from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We need to see an agreed plan put in place between the hospital, the CEO of the hospital, who is also the master, and the HSE, which is then presented to Government. That plan must then be assessed against the public spending code and so forth. My understanding is that relatively recently the Rotunda and the HSE arrived at an agreed plan for interim works and my officials were briefed on that plan last week. Now we need to look at moving that through the public spending code.

To be very clear, we need to take action on the Rotunda Hospital. I am not saying that we are waiting for the Rotunda to move to Connolly, as I have read in some reports. The fear of the people working in the Rotunda today is that nothing is going to happen until the big move but that is not the case. We needed to arrive at a point where there is an agreed plan with the HSE. I will ask Mr. Reid to elaborate further on that.