Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to hear the Taoiseach finally acknowledge there is a roadmap to get to a 24-7 service. It is the first time that has been acknowledged in this House. I invited him to come to Waterford and visit University Hospital Waterford, so I was very glad to see him there. As I pointed out to him in private conversation, there are still exceptional challenges at the hospital, not least the lack of capital expansion. At least four projects there have, in essence, been mothballed for the past year and they are critical in getting community services and other services off the acute hospital site so that capacity can be expanded. I have engaged with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, through the past year to drive policy to deliver that expansion but, unfortunately, it is not happening.

I point out to the Taoiseach that the estates office for the HSE is based in County Kilkenny and the regional model 4, covering the south east, is based in Waterford. It is about time for there to be an estates office on the campus of University Hospital Waterford so that it can be liaised with directly to understand what is causing all these delays.

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