Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I acknowledge that the new 75-bed ward block will offer patients more modern single-room accommodation, but the simple fact is that it will not offer one single extra bed. My point today is on value for money. The Minister of State implied walking away from the University Hospital Galway site would not represent value for money. If he investigates the amount of funding invested in the two projects I have outlined today, he will note it is an example of how we are not looking at the bigger picture or adopting a longer-term vision for Galway and the western region.

Questions need to be asked on whether these projects should have been allowed to proceed when it was apparent that they would not bring any appreciable relief in the current crisis in University Hospital Galway. Prior to my election to this House, I stated the University Hospital Galway campus was at saturation point and was unfit to provide for the present and future health care needs of people along the western seaboard. I examined the Merlin Park site, which is State-owned. We have Merlin Park hospital, as the Minister of State said. Since the time in question, the assessment has gained the support not only of my political colleagues but also that of the clinicians and hospital management. In the interest of the future health care of our citizens in the west, we need to be considering a plan and phasing out from University Hospital Galway. I appreciate the investment in that site but we need to be considering a larger one. The current one is in the city centre. It is hemmed in and, because of parking restrictions associated with the Galway city development plan, we cannot have an extra bed without an extra car-parking space. That is simply the case and we need to be considering the use of the State-owned land at Merlin Park. We also need to consider the ten-year plan and include a provision whereby University Hospital Galway would move to Merlin Park as part of that plan.

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