Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I fully agree. If we think through what is required now, while five years seems like a very long time, and, obviously, we would love these facilities to be in place tomorrow, tendering for detailed design, the detailed design itself, securing planning, tendering for construction, the construction itself and then commissioning, unfortunately, take quite a bit of time. One of the advantages we have on both sites is that it is our land and we are not looking to take private land with any complexities that might entail. Critically, as the Deputy said, one of the attractive features of this site is that we have an awful lot of room to expand. As he will be aware, what was agreed yesterday is phase 1, which is the day-case element. There is an agreement that the design will incorporate both phases, which would include an inpatient facility as well.

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