Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We need to get this sorted as quickly as possible. The new unit is going to make a big difference. It will have 14-day treatment cubicles, two treatment isolation rooms and seven outpatient consultation rooms, so it is going to make a big difference in terms of the experience that patients have and, indeed, that clinicians have in providing what is world-class oncology treatment to patients. I am advised that to facilitate palliative care being reinstated, the Department has been told by the HSE that the oncology services will move for a period of four months to facilitate the reconfiguration of the palliative care unit and to provide adequate interim capacity but, ultimately, the solution is to finalise this design and then crack on.

I appreciate the Deputy’s very reasonable question, which is whether we have a date for when the new services will be in place. That cannot be answered until we have the final design because, obviously, the design that is come up with will, to some extent, determine how long the build will take.

See this speech in context