Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

There are people outside this House who want to know the answers because they know that we need those scarce public lands to provide the extra public hospital beds and the step-down and community care that will free up acute hospital beds and facilitate the smoother functioning of the accident and emergency service. The Taoiseach has no support for this initiative, not even in his own party, yet he tells us that he is pressing ahead and that the invitations to tender are gone out. Does he imply that they can be concluded before the general election because if he does, it is anti-democratic?

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