Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said in my opening remarks, I am conscious of Deputy O'Sullivan's desire for the new elective facilities in Cork and in particular that they are delivered as soon as possible. Producing this new delivery capability into the public healthcare system will benefit the good people of Cork and indeed the whole population. I am as keen as the Deputy that they get to work as quickly as possible.

I suppose being approved in principle means the Government has given a commitment. However, I am aware that the Government has a duty to ensure value for money when delivering projects such as this and it is important to follow due process. Preliminary business cases will be coming to the Government for consideration very soon. The Taoiseach suggested yesterday that this could be as early as next week. As soon as the Government approval in principle is given to those, we will be in a position to announce the locations of emerging preferred sites at Cork and Galway. That will then allow us to move on to the next stage of the programme which is the development of detailed project design, project brief and procurement strategy. We are taking all possible steps to move the projects forward as quickly as possible within the current rules. I look forward to being able to make a further announcement soon and I appreciate the Deputy's support in this matter.

I do not have the exact location but if my esteemed colleague Dan McConnell says that it is in Glanmire then I suspect it is. But that has not been officially revealed yet.

See this speech in context