Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)

It seems to me there is a growing political consensus that all of the options need to be done. That would then face us with the question around option 3, which is, where do you build that hospital? That is possibly the next big question.

I have a question for the witnesses. There was a report in 2023 on model 3 hospitals by the HSE's national doctors' training and planning unit. It said:

Outside of main urban areas, Model 3 hospitals play a pivotal role in providing access to high-quality and timely healthcare. They provide elective and general medical and surgical services.

I wonder if the witnesses agree with that and if their view is that the model 3 hospital should be outside of a main urban area for those reasons.

If they do not have time to answer all the questions, we will take written answers as well. I will leave the last four minutes to address some of those points.