Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is important the people who need it can get a local service but apart from that, it is value for money. We are spending more than €500,000 a year on taxis and transport costs to bring them to other hospitals that are already under pressure. This is very much needed and I have acknowledged that the Government invested significantly in Regional Hospital Mullingar in the MRI build and the outpatient department, in which the Minister took a personal interest. We are fortunate, which the Minister of State acknowledged, to have high-calibre, dedicated staff in the hospital but we need more of them. The HSE knew this build was going to be completed in quarter 3 of this year; it sanctioned it last year. It should have pre-empted and realised that the positions and staffing submission needed to be approved in order for the recruitment process to commence and allow full use to be made of this much-needed service without delay. We need approval without delay because we do not want the major capital investment that has been made to be underutilised.

I wish to make a side point in relation to this issue. Due to works for the MRI scanner and outpatient department, a significant amount of car parking spaces have been lost. This is having a negative effect on staff in the hospital and patients coming in for treatment.

Will the Minister of State to convey to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, the need for a capital allocation to enable the hospital management to provide 85 new car parking spaces to ensure staff have access to such car parking? They need it because they work long and antisocial hours and must be able to park their cars close to the hospital-----

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