Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The funding was allocated in the budget and the HSE service plan in order to do it this year, although I appreciate that simply allocating the funding is not the same as making it happen. I am advised that the preparatory work for the switch is under way. Laboratory capacity planning is a key part of this and its finalisation is dependent on the conclusion of contractual arrangements with MedLab and the Coombe. This will allow the programme to determine the required capacity to be procured and will inform the timeline for the switch. Based on that information, it would be wrong of me to provide a date that I cannot necessarily stand over.

See this speech in context