Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no lack of funding available under the access to care fund. If Eilísh Hardiman and the team are looking for money for short periods, which is what the access to care funding provides, there will be money left at the end of December. The HSE has not been able to spend all the money. That is not from want of desire to do so. Given all of the various issues that the HSE has been dealing with this year, it has made incredible progress. There is funding there. In Temple Street, for example, part of the permanent solution is a the construction of a fifth operating theatre. CHI has put in a proposal for that. We are looking that that urgently as part of the capital plan for next year. I am very positively disposed to it. I have spoken directly with the CEO about it.

As the Deputy will be aware and as we have discussed previously, there are different requirements in different hospitals and children's hospitals.

Crumlin hospital needs an MRI machine. There are various issues. All of this is being looked at within the capital plan for next year. We allocated more money than the HSE drew down this year so the issue is not funding. The issue is making sure that these critically important projects are processed and put in place as quickly as possible.

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