Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Durkan for the invitation. I would like to visit Naas and intend to do so in the coming months. It is a case of trying to fit it into the diary between everything else I am asked to do in addition to my commitments in the Dáil and Seanad. It is a visit I intend to make whenever it can be scheduled.

There are developments happening at the hospital. The phase 3C development is now being progressed. I am not sure whether planning permission has been awarded yet, but subject to its award the project will go ahead and there will be a two-story building, which will provide for further development of the hospital, with endoscopy and day services. It is an important hospital in a county with a rapidly expanding population, to which the Government is very committed. If there is a workable solution around those two wards I will have it examined and see if it can provide us with a solution to those problems.

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