John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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This is not a point I am making to get at the Minister. He is a very good colleague of mine. It is a bigger question, I suppose, in respect of his position as Minister. What goes to the heart of any concerns I have is that the State, in essence, runs this hospital. It has done so since the numbers of religious have diminished over the years. The State invests a colossal amount of money in this hospital and will do so for the next 100 years. It will be €300 million indexed annually as the years go on. I refer to the cost of that to the taxpayers. To build a proper republic, there must be a turning point in what the State does at some stage and in the way it treats the whole issue of health. That is the whole point that I am making but it is one that is very dear to me.

I have probably run out of time. We look forward to receiving those detailed notes. The Minister has given us a great deal of information and I appreciate it. I wish him well in his onerous task which is often not appreciated by his colleagues. He has enough on his plate between Covid-19, the new national maternity hospital and the cyberattack. I ask him to pass on our best wishes to the HSE as well in respect of its ongoing work. It is much appreciated.