David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will pose my question to the Minister for Health. Local Deputies and I have raised this issue for some time. I commend the fact the building is now there and has been kitted out but the funding for staffing simply is not there. There is a state-of-the-art palliative care unit on the first two floors of this building and the top three floors have 72 acute beds. The problem is that the people who want to run and manage the service do not have the staff because they have not been given any funding to do so. My mam passed away this year in a palliative care unit in Harold's Cross in Dublin. Many people in the south east would want to be able to have their loved ones as close as possible when suffering from something. It is very important to the people of Waterford. How have we ended up with a building having been built, kitted out and provided with capital funding, yet it does not have the funding to recruit staff? Will the Minister commit to do that as soon as possible so that we can open this as soon as we can?

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