Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their responses and, in particular, Deputy Bernard Durkan for his comments about pushing for a realistic date. That is something to which I will give my support and I will bring that message to the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris.

Deputy Martin Heydon made the point about the increasing population up to 241,000 people. I take his points on board. I also take on board the Deputy's points about mental health and the staff morale in Naas General Hospital.

Naas General Hospital serves the catchment area of Kildare-west Wicklow which is an area with a rapidly growing population. The hospital provides quality patient care, delivered safely by skilled and valued staff through the best of available resources. As I said earlier, there are two distinct development proposals for Naas General Hospital currently: the mental health one and the new accommodation and services. There has been significant increase in the scope of both projects and, in these circumstances, the current position is the Health Service Executive expects to commence construction on the endoscopy project in 2019 and is preparing to procure a design team for the expanded mental health unit. The Deputies can take it that I will take their strong messages back to the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, and they will have my full support on these projects.

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