David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome any and every additional bed put into the system. The Minister spoke of 1,126 beds that were delivered up to January. That money and those beds were committed to in 2020. In fact, they were to be delivered much quicker. It has taken far too long to deliver all those beds. In my view, that goes back to the need to reform how we deliver major healthcare infrastructure. That is why the 1,500 rapid-build beds were very important. It was my understanding that they would be rapid modular build, could be built much quicker and would not take as long to deliver as the 1,200 beds.

The Minister spoke about 1,126 beds that were delivered. As I said, they were part of the 1,200 beds funded in 2020. We are still delivering some of those. Regarding the 147 beds that will come on-stream this year, I assume some or most of those were also part of the 1,200 beds that were funded many years ago. We need to hear from the Minister what the next step is and where we are as regards the 1,500 rapid-build beds.

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