Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

The question is around what is capable of being delivered to absolute completion within the next five years and how we balance and manage that. I do not think it is question of right or wrong. Both the Deputy and I want to see the infrastructure delivered immediately if possible but we both live in the real world where we have to go through planning and procurement processes. There is a slowness in doing that, unfortunately - in the Government and the public sector doing that - which does not challenge the private sector in the same way. It is very frustrating but we both want to see the projects delivered.

I now have a capital envelope the size of which we have not had in health. There was an underspend on capital investment for a very long time in health, with significant additional funding on the current side. That was fine and necessary but there has been an underspend. I have secured a large capital portion of the NDP and the additional programme that is there. I have the assurance that where I get something to shovel-ready, I will get the funding for that and I would welcome the Deputy's support when I get to that point.

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