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

I appreciate the sentiments the Deputy articulated and the support he has offered the Government in dealing with this issue. I very deliberately yesterday and today stated that the Government has put in the bulk of funding and investment in St. Vincent's Hospital, both current and capital. The statement yesterday was not, in my view, an appropriate response at all. I said yesterday that there needs to be respectful engagement with the funders - the taxpayer and the people - who are represented by the Government of the day. That is my position. I also said some years back, and I am still of the view, that the State needs to own any facilities it builds. I believe that not just in regard to healthcare, although it is specific to tertiary healthcare because it is so complex and capital intensive and absorbs so much funding. It can be no other way into the future, given the complexity of modern tertiary hospitals. I would also apply it elsewhere. In disability services across the board, the State needs to become more involved to ensure we have proper accountability and first-class provision of services across the board.

In the case of this hospital, I made reference to a CPO. The Deputy knows the implications of a CPO.

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