Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The accident and emergency consultants' point does not hold up in this regard. This is what currently happens in co-located hospitals and there are no accident and emergency services in these hospitals at present. This has worked in many hospitals, such as the Mater Hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital and in Cork, for many years. The aim of the initiative, to transfer private activity from the public hospital system to privately financed and managed hospitals and free up 1,000 beds, has not changed. As I said here recently when discussing infrastructural issues, the private sector will build this more quickly, by a matter of years, than the public sector, depending on the contract the HSE presents based on technical legal advice. The length of time involved in getting from A to B on building matters through public procurement contracts is too great.

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