Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure. I thought the Minister for Health was going to be here. He knows the situation. I am not having a go at the Minister of State but it is a joke that we are here again asking questions of a Minister for Health who has not appeared. The Minister of State has confirmed that it is a 60-bed unit. This reply states that it may be built on the existing site or on a new site. That throws everything up in the air again. There has never been mention of another site. It was always expected that this 60-bed extension would be on the St. Patrick's Hospital site. If we are to go to another site, how much longer will planning and so on drag on before this 60-bed unit is built in Cashel?

The Minister of State has not answered my question about what stage design is at. When can we expect to see work started? It should not be built on a new site because that throws everything in the air again. It actually maddens me at this stage to think that we have been waiting this long and there is now talk of a new site. What was the intention behind the statement that the HSE continues to review the options? I asked the Minister of State what that was about. That is one of the questions we wanted to ask the Minister regarding this development. Why is something that has gone to design now being reviewed? Anybody building anything will review options and decide what they want to put on a site before they go to the design stage. I have no doubt that the HSE has spent a fortune designing this 60-bed unit and it is now talking about reviewing it. It seems crazy and shows a total lack of respect for people in Cashel who have been expecting this unit all along.

The Minister of State still has not answered me as to why the Minister or the HSE decided to tell us about St. Anthony's in Clonmel. Is it to soften us up before dragging on with the unit at St. Patrick's Hospital for as long as possible, as there is a 60-bed unit 18 miles down the road, before finally pulling the plug, as happened with St. Brigid's Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir?

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