Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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120. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 137 of 6 March 2025, if the development control plan and the options appraisal process for the master plan for University Hospital Galway has now been completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23679/25]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am not sure which Minister is answering, but I am asking about the regional university hospital in Galway, a master plan we have been waiting on for a long time and a control development plan. I have in my hand the HIQA report from its last unannounced visit. There is a shortage of 232 beds and a huge difficulty in treating patients with dignity and respect and privacy, notwithstanding the improvements that have been made and good comments from the patients. We are talking about a hospital that is under serious pressure. The Minister might give me an update, please.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for her question. It is timely, as I will visit University Hospital Galway, UHG, on Thursday as it happens.

The Deputy will be aware of proposals for further significant capital investment there. That includes additional bed capacity, a new emergency department, new paediatric and maternity facilities, a new helipad, replacement laboratories and a cancer centre at UHG. A surgical hub is under construction at Merlin Park and plans for the new elective hospital are progressing.

Due to the scale and complexity of these projects, a programmatic approach is necessary to ensure the continued delivery of care on the congested hospital campus. We could not deliver it all at once on one site, so that master plan to move around is important.

A UHG capital programme oversight board has developed an integrated, strategic master plan for UHG by way of a campus development control plan, DCP. That master-planning process, informed by population health needs and regional clinical demand will, as the Deputy will be aware, provide a clear plan for the sequencing and delivery of the new capacity and facilities. Both the DCP and the programme strategic assessment report are currently being finalised by the HSE. I understand that it is to be presented to the HSE board for approval at the end of this month. We expect that it will then be submitted to the Department next month for review in line with the infrastructure guidelines. The HSE has advised that initial enabling works to support this programme of works have begun as I imagine the Deputy will be aware.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Unfortunately, I will not be there for that photo opportunity on Thursday because the Dáil will still be sitting.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Deputy-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I welcome that the Minister is going to Galway. The reason I put my hands up is that we had the former Taoiseach back in 2017 tell us it was not fit for purpose. It is now 2025. I am looking at a HIQA report from last year that states that a strategic assessment preliminary business case had been completed, approved by the Health Service Executive board and submitted to the Department of Health, so forgive me if I am little frustrated. I was born, bred and reared in Galway. I have been in and out of that hospital for many reasons. I know it on every level, professionally and personally. It has not been fit for purpose for a very long time. I heard what the Minister read out to me; I appreciate they are her answers. I have all of those answers I am getting. Hopefully, when she is there on Thursday, she will find out which plan has been completed and why I have been told that this one was done last year by HIQA; that was its answer to HIQA.

I will not go over time; I will go under time actually.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the Deputy's frustration. I appreciate that there needs to be a major plan. I also appreciate that this has to be done in a sequencing way so that the hospital can continue to function. The information I have for her is that it will be presented to the HSE board for approval at the end of this month. I cannot put it further than that.

I am attending the hospital, as I attend many hospitals, not to take photographs but to visit and speak with management to understand better the hospitals and how they work, the local nuances that impact them and the fact that Galway has been in difficulties over the bank holiday weekends. I want to understand the scheduling and roster, quite apart from capacity issues, and what is happening with the rosters and with the public-only consultant contracts and whether there are local issues that explain the particular difficulties they have had over the weekends. I am not interested in photographs, but I have to do my work. It is not the first time I have heard it. I appreciate the Deputy's perspective on it, but I do plan to go anyway.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I welcome that the Minister is going there-----

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Sure.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I welcome it, but she should listen to what I am saying. Back in 2015, it was not fit for purpose. We had Leo Varadkar down there telling us it was not fit for purpose, then we had Deputy Micheál Martin as Taoiseach, and here we are in 2025 and we are getting more and more plans. I welcome that there is something at the end of this month.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I know.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We have 31 people in there with nowhere to go due to delayed discharges. We have a serious problem with privacy and dignity. We have a problem with lack of staff and lack of clinical leads, notwithstanding the progress. I pay tribute to the staff. Let us go back to Savita Halappanavar in 2012, and forward. This is a hospital seriously under pressure, a congested site with not enough staff and not enough beds. They are short 232 beds according to their own press release. I pay tribute to the staff. What I do not pay tribute to is all of the Governments that have let this happen. There was an options appraisal way back where the hospital was to move to Merlin Park, and I foolishly relaxed thinking we were getting a brand new hospital. For the past five years we have been given a jigsaw approach to this and finally we are hearing now with a master plan, but there is no sign of it.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that the Deputy has been raising this for many years. I appreciate the reasons for that, and I have huge respect for that. This is the approach that has been taken. From my perspective as Minister, I will be keen to see this move forward as quickly as possible with what sits within my control. I am concerned about the interaction with the infrastructure guidelines and the revision process that is ongoing with the Department of public expenditure and reform to make sure the delivery of these projects is done as quickly as possible. The question about whether, for example, we need four business cases or two businesses cases, as the Deputy said, when so much work has gone into it already to be further delayed by infrastructure guidelines such as they are would not be acceptable. That is a body of work I can take responsibility for by interacting with the Department of public expenditure and reform, and also the speed with which it moves with regard to my own Department. However, I do have very strong respect for the background work the Deputy has done and the way in which she has advocated for this month after month in this House when she has been a Member, and I understand the reasons for that. I look forward to going on Thursday to see for myself.