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

The need for a national maternity hospital is without question. The women of Ireland need a modern national maternity hospital providing the best of care at a tertiary level. The current conditions are simply not good enough or tenable into the future and cannot be sustained. We need a new national maternity hospital. In terms of value for money, the procurement provisions in public expenditure will have to apply. That is why I desist from global figures and from saying it will cost this or that. It should very much depend on the tendering operation and a detailed specification before any global figures are referenced in respect of a project of the scale of a national maternity hospital. We need that hospital and the women of Ireland need it without question.

The Deputy asked about funding for the south east. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has been extremely assertive in respect of Waterford and the south east more generally, as have Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, and others.

I was somewhat surprised when the Deputy called the URDF money tokenistic. It must be accepted that the €190 million disbursed from the fund to date is not tokenistic. That is substantial funding. On regional investment in jobs in County Waterford, the regional enterprise plan for the south east is currently being developed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Tánaiste and Minister of State, Deputy Troy, working closely with the south-east committee. The plan is building on successful clusters in the region in life sciences, pharmaceuticals, medical technologies, biopharma, agrifood, engineering, financial services, technology and international business services. The Technological University of South-East Ireland project has progressed. The university is vital and significant for the region and funding will accompany its development.

It is interesting that employment in IDA Ireland-supported companies has increased by 2.8% in the south east. Approximately 13,461 people are working in 74 such companies. Foreign direct investment, FDI, employment in the south east is now at a ten-year high. We must keep on developing that, however. That is why advanced properties are being developed by IDA Ireland to attract new investment to the region.

As the Deputy may be aware, there was a very welcome announcement recently of 90 jobs by Horizon Therapeutics for County Waterford. Enterprise Ireland is also supporting clients. The south east was one of the few regions with positive employment growth of in 2020. That growth amounted to 2%. As the Deputy will know, progress has been made in respect of the catheterisation laboratory, although it took time. It is expected that the main contractor will hand over the project by the end of June 2022, which is welcome. We will continue to allocate significant funding to the south east into the future.

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