Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Is the Taoiseach saying that 90% of the bidding documents have issued and that they will be back by the time the HSE board meets on Friday week? Does he expect a decision to be made on Friday week? What is the process after that? What is the duration of the lease in question? How does it materially matter if a building is physically constructed for the next 99 years on this scarce public land? How can the Taoiseach say that professionals in the service do not know what the HSE has in mind? They include people who work at the coalface, consultants, those who have arguably money to gain from working in the private sector and who argue that the migration of personnel will make the public health service worse. They say it will damage the two-tier divide in our service, creating a new two-tier divide in accident and emergency units.

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