Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the witnesses for their presentations and for the work they are doing. I want to address a number of local issues in my own area of Cork. The issue of the elective hospital was raised last week. Cork has a rapidly growing population and the hospitals there also deal with people from outside of Cork. There are patients from throughout Munster in the Cork hospitals. Recently, there was a case of a patient being transferred from as far away as Sligo to Cork. The information given on the elective hospital last week was that planning is not going to be applied for until next year, yet our hospitals are under severe pressure. What is the timeline now for planning for the elective hospital?

The second issue I wanted to touch on is that the HSE acquired a hotel premises, the old Blarney Hotel and Golf Resort, in Tower, near Blarney. I understand that 25 beds are currently occupied there by people who have been transferred from the hospital. My understanding is that there is also a new rehab facility of 20 beds to be put in there. I would like an update on those two projects and the timescale for them. The first concerns the elective hospital.

The second is the opening of the facility at what was previously the golf links hotel in Blarney.