Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)

I will start with a headline from the Irish Examiner that ran "HSE warns it cannot fill vacancies even with agencies as staff shortage crisis deepens". We are talking about health insurance and the rising cost of it. Why do we have such a shortage in the HSE? Why are private hospitals being built and providing a service efficiently, with efficient staffing? We see the 96-bed unit open in Limerick, which I welcomed. Then we see we had a strategic policy to look at options. Option A was another 96-bed unit, option B was expanding the emergency department and option C was a hospital on another site that could have a step-down facility. We came up with a consensus at meetings of all parties in the mid-west. We are united on it and are meeting the Minister tomorrow to say we want options A, B and C. We had a private hospital built in Limerick in 16 months, from the time the sod was turned until it was finished.

It was built on budget and on time. Our children's hospital has gone €1.2 billion over budget. Why is it that every project a Department takes on goes over budget even though Departments do not need to make a profit? They go over budget by 50%, 60% or 70%. Regardless of the sector, every business in this country, including those who are self-employed, that is accountable for its own funding, its employees, its profits and its taxes can deliver projects on budget and on time.

A company has come to me and to other Deputies in the House to say it will build the hospital for the mid-west. This company does not mind if it is in Limerick, Clare or Tipperary; it will build the hospital. It will work a contract out with the State like you would do for a mortgage for a house. It says that it will build the hospital that is needed for the mid-west on budget and deliver it within two years. It is needed for the protection of the people in the mid-west, that is, our elderly, our vulnerable and everyone else. This company can deliver that project in two years. If the Department says it does not have the money for it, the company has said it can be worked out over 35 years and that the State can buy the building back for €1 at that time. It is the same as a mortgage. If the Government cannot deliver the projects, let someone else do it. The Government can fund it with it and enter into a contract. The company will then deliver it on budget and on time. The Government can facilitate that. The hospital will then look after the vulnerable people of Ireland.

This is why I have come up with a model. Where a Department intends to build hospitals, schools and all the rest of it, there should be a brochure that opens up. The Department can say it wants a classroom to suit 50 people or an operating theatre with specific facilities. It would be standard and the Department would just have to open the brochure. It can be done for houses. There was a housing system before where you could open a brochure and say you wanted this house or that house. It allows you to buy a certain number of doors or a certain number of windows. It can be built affordably and on budget and you can look at the stock you need to deliver. I am asking the HSE and the Minister to look at a model for one-bed, two-bed, three-bed, four-bed and up to 100-bed hospitals or whatever they want to do. That is the model. You would go to a contractor and say you want 50 or 100 rooms and what you want in it. There would be standardised electrics, plumbing, fit-outs and everything else across the board. That cuts out the preliminaries for which all the architects and engineers charge millions before we start at all. It also stops any changes mid-way through the projects. You get your hospital delivered but that same hospital can be dropped into Limerick, Cork or Kildare. These companies are providing the lands and a solution to deliver these projects. We would then see our health insurance premiums coming down because the Government would be providing hospitals and care for people along with a strategic plan for the health of everyone in this country going forward.

Why do I talk like this? I have been in business all my life. I have been self-employed all my life. What did I do for my headspace in my downtime last week? I laid a few blocks. Why? I am a blocklayer by trade. I know what I am talking about. I am also a businessman.

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