David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have already said this is a step forward for people in Waterford and the south-east. As somebody who lobbied the Minister to put this in place as an interim, temporary measure until the national review completes its work, and we are hoping for a favourable outcome, I am somewhat disappointed with the language in the speech the Minister of State read out. It states there is merit in the proposal but further work is required, and it then states it will take until next year to deliver. Is that next January, March, June or December? It talks about the different issues and hurdles which will have to be overcome, such as tendering, project design work, planning, construction and commissioning. We need something a bit more concrete.

I ask the Minister of State to go back to the Minister for Health and ask him to meet the Oireachtas Members before the Dáil recess, as he promised, to outline to us actual timeframes. In any capital project, one has targets in terms of whether it is the first quarter, second quarter or third quarter of the year, and there are timeframes around all the different stages in the process. We have no timeframe here. The Minister of State will accept we need a bit more than what is in his response in order to give comfort to the people of the south-east that this will be delivered as quickly as possible.

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