Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Will the plan include additional funding for the National Maternity Hospital? While planning permission has been granted, the Department of Health has warned that it does not have enough money to deliver major projects, including the National Maternity Hospital and primary care centres. We are talking about a disaster if what the Department of Health has been suggesting turns out to be true. The Department has said it needs an extra €2 billion. By the standards of the HSE and in my experience of sitting at Cabinet, that is small money. Is it really going to be held back on €2 billion? It has also said it needs another €2 billion for extra infrastructure and IT. I do not know. We also need additional bed capacity.

What are we doing in relation to a subject that is close to my heart and that of the Minister, namely electric rail lines, in particular to Maynooth and south Kildare to open up vast additional lands for housing at moderate prices?

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