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

I thank the Deputy. I remember that speech well. I made it at Bausch + Lomb, on the outskirts of Waterford city, at a jobs announcement and I committed to a number of things happening in Waterford. I was back there recently - the Deputy was with me for some of it - and I was so pleased to see the amount of progress that has been made in the five or six years since then. I said there would be a focus on getting good, well-paid jobs into Waterford. About 600 IDA jobs have been announced in Waterford in that period, with major investments happening, as the Deputy has acknowledged in other forums. I said we would finally deliver a university for the south east and that has been done with the South East Technological University, which I visited a few weeks ago. We said we would get the North Quays development under way. The Deputy was there for the sod-turning, in the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and me, not too long ago. This €200 million investment in the south east will transform that city and make it the vibrant urban centre of the south east that it should be. I said we would invest in Waterford hospital and we have, with the Dunmore wing in particular, which I visited only a few weeks ago. I was really impressed to see that. The Deputy knows how much things have improved in respect of the emergency department and overcrowding there, palliative care and many other things.

The particular issue the Deputy zeroed in on in his question, which is entirely reasonable, was the cath lab. When I made that speech in 2017, it did not exist. There were questions as to whether there would ever be a second cath lab in Waterford. I was in the second cath lab in Waterford a few weeks ago. The Government delivered on that and built it, and it is now ready to be used. As things stand, it is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.

The hospital has confirmed that extended cardiac service hours for the existing cath lab commenced from 5 September. That means the existing cath lab is now open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. The next step, which we are committed to making happen, is to ensure there is a service from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week and then to build up to a 24-hour service. Previously, we did not have the infrastructure or the staff. We now have the infrastructure. It is now a case of putting all the staff in place, agreeing the rotas and so on. The lab does exist, however. Waterford has a second cath lab and we will be able to move to a seven-day service next. The plan is to move to a 24-hour service after that, subject to being able to get the staffing in place.

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