Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have just come from a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts at which officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage were before us. I am not impressed. Before the country is bankrupted, the Minister needs to have a discussion with his Secretary General and insist on a cost-benefit analysis for any of the schemes being brought forward. If he cares to look at the record of the meeting this morning, he will see that Deputy McAuliffe has joined me in calling for a cost-benefit analysis.

There also needs to be a cost-benefit analysis of the national children's hospital project. As reported in the Irish Examiner, it is going to have an impact on all the HSE's capital infrastructure projects. One of those projects is the 97-bed unit for Wexford General Hospital. I am asking the Minister for a straight answer. Will the 97-bed block be sanctioned and built in Wexford before the end of the Government's term, as was promised?

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