David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Hopefully if the electorate has good sense, I will be the Minister who produces that single piece of paper and plan that will deliver a lot of what the Minister talked about but that has not been delivered. All those ingredients are part of what is needed to reduce waiting lists because while there has been some positive movement in terms of long waiters, far too many people are still waiting for access to healthcare.

I welcome the 1,500 beds that have been announced. We discussed this yesterday. We need to do what the Minister spoke about very quickly, namely, doing it at pace and dealing with the layers of bureaucracy in the HSE capital approval process and all the other issues that make it difficult to deliver them at pace. We also need to make sure it is on the basis of need. While it may take a bit longer for some hospitals to deliver these beds for all sorts of practical reasons, we cannot simply say to those hospitals that are ready to go, "Listen, you can have all the beds" and it not be based on health need. I raised the issue in Waterford hospital, where 160 beds are needed, yesterday so it must be on the basis of need but there also needs to be speed.

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