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

I thank the Deputy for raising a question I have been asking in recent weeks because Government made the commitment many years ago to build a new emergency department in University Hospital Galway, on the existing site. It is in the Project Ireland 2040 plan and has been in all our capital plans for quite some time. My understanding - I may not be fully up to date on this - is the plan is to build a new emergency department and a new maternity and pediatric department in the same building, on the University Hospital Galway site. It has been the plan for quite some time.

I made inquiries a few weeks ago to try to understand why it was taking so long. Similar to the Deputy, I received a lengthy response which I could not fully interpret or understand. I am not happy with it either and will follow up on it with the HSE because, as the Deputy said, University Hospital Galway is not just the hospital for Galway city, it is a specialist centre for the entire west and part of the north west. Therefore, it should have as good an emergency department as exists anywhere else, such as the new department in Limerick and in Dublin hospitals. I will look into that further.

No decision has been made by Government in relation to Merlin Park and the elective hospital. An debate is under way as to how the elective hospitals in Dublin, Galway and Cork should look. Should they be day hospitals only, or, have overnight facilities as well? While options appraisals have been done on that, no decision has been put to the Government as of yet.

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