Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Reid and the team and wish Ms O'Connor and Mr. Woods well in their new positions. I will begin with capital projects. I have engaged with the Tánaiste on the emergency department and maternity and paediatric unit in Galway and asked him to engage with the officials, which I believe he has. This is a long-running project and I appreciate it is complex. We have had commitments, and the previous Minister for Heath, Deputy Harris, received commitments from the Saolta University Health Care Group as far back as September 2018 that a planning application would be lodged before Christmas 2018. Here we are in 2022. Could I say that the planning application will be lodged this year? Can Mr. Reid say whether a planning application for an emergency department and maternity and paediatric unit in Galway will be lodged this year?