Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We all acknowledge that there is a large health budget of €17 billion but the overrun on the new children's hospital is a concern to everybody. I am concerned about a number of projects in my constituency and in the adjoining constituencies. Clear commitments were given in A Programme for a Partnership Government, as far as I understand it, and by Fine Gael prior to the last election. One of those commitments was the building of a 50 bed unit in St. Patrick's Community Hospital in Carrick-on-Shannon, another was the building of a 50 bed unit in the Sacred Heart Hospital in Roscommon and the final commitment was the building of a 50 bed unit at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, which is desperately needed because of the issues with the accident and emergency department. Will the Tánaiste assure me today that none of those three projects will be put on the back foot or pushed down the line because of the overspend in the new children's hospital?

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