Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the timeline, the key framework for all of this is the national planning framework. Public consultation on the national planning framework finished in recent weeks. An additional number of submissions were received by the Minister, Deputy Murphy, which he is now considering. When that work is done it will allow me to conclude where we are with our ten-year capital plan.

On the Deputy's question on the status of the number of beds that may be requested under the review of capacity in the health sector, the Minister, Deputy Harris, will bring that recommendation to Cabinet in the next two weeks. At that point we will be able to finalise what the recommendation will be and how it will be met.

With regard to the cost, the Minister, Deputy Harris, and I are engaging on what the cost per bed will be. There is no doubt that, like other forms of capital investment, a significant amount of funding is required to meet the type of challenge he is referring to. This is why we are looking at it on a ten-year basis. If we look at it over many years as opposed to year to year, it will give us a greater chance of being able to plan for this effectively and meet these high costs.

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