Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

If the review shows it is not a success it will be too late to do anything about it.

The real issue is the use of public land; private hospitals on private land is another matter and one will be built in Tullamore in my constituency. The Government is effectively selling the family silver at a questionable price. Many of the hospitals to be used are located in key areas of towns and cities, where the value of the land is high. If we need to build public facilities in these areas, those of us who make representations on behalf of public hospitals are told decisions are delayed or the project will fail to be approved because of the lack of land in the area and the cost of buying land. It is similar to the position of schools, where the purchase of land is delayed because of cost. The same will happen in the provision of medical facilities. Today's decisions will cost us dearly tomorrow.

Co-location is hailed by the Government as the answer to all the problems in the health service. Rather than seeking a quick fix solution the Government would be better occupied solving all problems in the system. It sees co-location as the grand plan but the cost of the plan is less than clear. One of the Government Deputies incorrectly referred to the number of hospital beds to which Fine Gael was committed. The performance of the three Fianna Fáil Ministers at the press conference in respect of this issue was less than clear.

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