Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was a very useful meeting and I was glad to be able to attend for at least an hour of it. I hope to visit the hospital soon. I do not have the exact answers to all the Deputy’s questions. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to come back to him directly but I understand the 96-bed block is under construction and might be open some time next year. I will double-check that. We accept another bed block is required and will try to progress that. There is no date for the surgical hub yet, unfortunately. We need to look at different options for that but it could help a lot with elective waiting lists.

I understand construction is to begin on the new Bon Secours hospital in Limerick quite soon and I encourage the UL Hospitals Group to begin early discussions with them. We know how effectively Waterford hospital uses the Whitfield and it makes sense for Limerick hospitals to get in early to see if they can make use of the new private hospital when it is build and engage with UPMC on their ideas.

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