Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the Deputy's first point around the total number of beds coming this year and if that was part of the original allocation, the original allocation was 1,228 beds. We are up to 1,126 of that. That is about 102 shy of the 1,228. The beds this year will be to finish that figure and then move beyond it.

It is also important to say that we have had 147 new beds to open this year and there are other beds under development as well, for example the beds in Limerick. There are beds under construction as well as those we will deliver this year. There are a few hundred in the pipeline either being commissioned or in construction to be delivered this year or the following year. On the 1,500 beds we have done the expressions of interest and we got a lot of interest both internationally and from here. We have identified the sites. We have gone for sites that we believe are not complex in terms of planning. Some of them are car parks, some are brownfield or greenfield sites but as part of the core hospitals. We have broadly identified the design, which is not dissimilar to the Kilkenny block the Deputy will have seen. The 72-bed rapid build went up very well there. Yes, ultimately it comes down to funding. It is a big plan: 1,500 hospital beds is a big programme of work. Ultimately it comes down to funding. I am working through this at the moment with Government to see how that might be accommodated.