Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to accuse the Tánaiste, in reading out those statements, of living in a parallel universe when it comes to Waterford but they do not reflect the reality of the situation.

Trust and integrity are fundamental parts of what we should be doing in politics. We are not seeing that with regard to the delivery in my city and county.

The next day I come in here, maybe I will bring all of the figures for all of the acute model 4 hospitals, and the Tánaiste will see a similar rise and similar headcount, all of which is because the health budget has moved on. That is not unique to Waterford, and Waterford University Hospital remains the lowest funded model 4 hospital in the country. It a year since the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, who is seated beside the Tánaiste, came to Waterford and announced that the seven-day cardiac expansion would begin at the end of last year. It is six months since the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, said recruitment would begin in January of this year. To date, there has been no recruitment and no seven-day expansion. We still do not have weekend heart attack services in the hospital.

Regarding the airport, this Government withdrew €350,000 in annual stopgap funding to shore up losses at the airport, yet the Tánaiste tried to tell us that the Government is supporting the project.

With regard to SETU, an engineering build that has been on the capital programme since 2009 is still not done. The total expenditure in the university the Tánaiste says is done has been €4 million on a land acquisition, and the Government is allowing the private sector to step in to provide student accommodation. Nothing has been done by way of courses, professorships or new faculties. That is the reality on the ground.

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