Mr. Damien McCallion:

In Cork and Galway, they will overtaken by the elective hospitals. Regarding Dublin, I will provide an example. A hospital like Beaumont would use some of Raheny’s small number of theatres. In some ways, the term is catchy, but hospitals have often moved work out to other hospitals to get it off their main sites and, as Deputy Cullinane said, separate out scheduled and unscheduled work. The intention for the sites around Waterford, Cork, Galway and other areas is to see them adapted. They are being designed modularly so that they can be adapted for diagnostics or other work downstream as the elective hospitals move on. They have been successful in the UK, which has invested heavily in them. We have seen evidence from other countries in Europe as well. There is a large backlog following the pandemic. In Tallaght, the process is effective as people go through it. Just look at the numbers. That 80% of the day case work there is done in 12 weeks, which is in line with Sláintecare, is phenomenal.