Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Is the Minister saying that he has not met anybody, be they a colleague of his from his own party or somebody from the organisation who is building the hospital; that he has not had any meetings on this hospital? The impression is being given that the public purse will be used to purchase beds in this hospital.

Since the Minister is talking about a 165% increase in capital spend, is there any consideration being given to constructing a public hospital since his party has obviously identified the need for a hospital in the constituency. As I point out to the Minister every single day and at every single opportunity, this is the fastest growing constituency in the State with among the youngest population.

It has been given to understand that the Minister himself has been met and that this has been discussed with himself, with An Taoiseach and with the Minister for Finance. Is it the case that this is a project? Has an SLA been agreed with this private company? Has the NTPF agreed to purchase any places? While the adverts are in the papers saying that access will be available for public and private patients, one could not say exactly that at this stage in the proceedings because the SLA has not been concluded, or am I wrong in that?

See this speech in context