Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said the site has been identified but he is not announcing it at the moment. He also made a point the State is not good at building hospitals. The Government is very good at closing them on the northside of Cork city, however. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael closed the North Infirmary hospital and the orthopaedic hospital. We have sites like Sarsfieldscourt in Glanmire, the orthopaedic hospital in Gurranabraher and Our Lady’s Hospital in Shanakiel. There are numerous sites that are owned by the HSE which could be delivered. I had to fight tooth and nail for a year to get SouthDoc in Cork city reopened. That is how hard it is to get services on the northside of Cork city.

I am not sure if the Minister heard the reports today from Cork University Hospital. It has the highest numbers since records began of patients on trolleys in Cork. Cork city healthcare is in crisis at the moment. We do not have time for waiting and pushing things down the road. We need a site to be identified and it must be on the northside. I am sick and tired of one-tier development in Cork. We need balanced development, especially balanced healthcare.

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