Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I again raise the issue of the plans to extend and build a new children's unit in Cork University Hospital, CUH. The Minister of State will be familiar with this but I must articulate my extreme concern at the lack of transparency and honesty in answering clearly whether there is a specific budget for this project and a meaningful timeline for its planning and extension. The Minister of State will be aware that the development of regional units is an essential part of the national paediatric model. Substantial funding has been allocated for the national children's hospital. It will probably cost up to €2 billion, and that involves the completion of Blanchardstown and Tallaght hospitals.

The national model of care for paediatrics involves regional units, Cork being the largest of those and Galway and Limerick the others. The funding envelope for the Cork project was estimated to be between €34 million and €38 million. It was approved for preliminary planning in 2015. There are issues not only in respect of the building, but in the availability of surgical and anaesthetic care. It is available at the moment but the facility has to be built, otherwise the capacity of Cork to attract and retain sufficient paediatric anaesthetic and surgical cover will erode. That will have serious implications for the national children's hospital, and, particluraly, for children in the Munster region in particular, because the Cork paediatric facility is essentially a Munster facility. It performs 5,000 operations at the moment. The national children's hospital would not be able to take that volume of surgical demand on board. In addition, the paediatric centre in Cork deals with paediatric neurology, respiratory, cystic fibrosis, endocrinology, diabetes, allergy, and cardiology cases. It is delivering specialist care as close to home as possible, in line with the national model, in all of those specific areas and it does approximately 5,000 operations per annum. Crumlin does approximately 22,000 at the moment.

We have received different answers to various questions we have put on this.For example, last March, it was stated that funding had been provided for the detailed planning, and that it was funded up to 2019 for detailed planning and design. That reply was signed by Jim Curran, the head of estates in the HSE. Furthermore, on 3 May, I received another reply which stated:

The preliminary scheme design has been completed of the proposed extension to the Cork University Hospital paediatric unit and reviewed by the CUH project team. Progression to the next stage of developed design and submission of a planning application is subject to the availability of capital funding. The HSE capital plan for 2019 is currently being finalised and will be submitted to the Minister for consideration.

That differs from the reply that was given to my colleague in March, which suggested that all the funding was provided for the detailed planning and design and that it was fully funded. I have the letter from 12 March, signed by Jim Curran, which stated that CUH was at stage 1 and was funded up to stage 2b, which is detailed design and planning. That seems to suggest it was covered for detailed design and planning. It also stated that a capital submission to the national capital and property steering group was being prepared. This was back in March. People who are on the ground working in the hospital are fed up of all the verbosity and meaningless language around this. They want to know whether this is provided for in the capital plan for 2019, 2020, and 2021, because we know that the memorandum from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to the Government on broadband mentions the need for €343 million for the national children's hospital. We need straight answers because otherwise, it seems to me that the regions, and the Cork facility in particular, are being neglected. I want a straight answer.

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