Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The figures relating to the underfunding of the region are stark. On the hospital, I remind the Taoiseach that despite the increases in revenue to the operating budget that he outlined and the capital grants, it is still the least resourced of all the nine model 4 hospitals in the country. Yet, its emergency department has been the busiest in the country since March. If the Taoiseach looks at the investment that has been given in the 2023 capital development plan, the allocation to Waterford represents less than one third of the moneys given to University Hospital Galway, Cork University Hospital, and University Hospital Limerick in an 11-year period. That is the stark reality no matter how it is dressed up. I accept the Taoiseach's bona fides in that he is keen to move things along. However, we have a dysfunctional procurement system in terms of trying to deliver these projects. In that context, there is no allocation in the capital plan for UHW in the context of design and build specifications to UHW in the capital plan. People from RTÉ are in the Oireachtas at the moment talking about dysfunction, shining a light and achieving new levels of governance. I honestly believe that we need to start looking at the Department of Health and the HSE in terms of the inequitable allocation of resources to Waterford and the south east.

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