Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is absolutely not my role or any Minister's role to be involved every time there is a material technical question raised about a piece of healthcare infrastructure being built around the country. Deputy Doherty may believe that if he was in this role – maybe some day he will be - he would be intimately involved in all of the detail every time a serious issue is raised about a piece of health infrastructure.

I respectfully put it to the Deputy that he probably would not be, because he would not be able to do the rest of his job. That is my position on that.

What we have here, for what it is worth, is I heard Deputy Doherty's colleague, Deputy Cullinane's, interview on "Morning Ireland" and it was apocryphal. According to Deputy Cullinane, the hospital is going to be delayed by one year.