Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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122. To ask the Minister for Health the timeframe for building four new elective hospitals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24131/25]

Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister outline the timeframe for the building of the four new elective hospitals?

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Government approved the preliminary business cases for Cork and Galway, and the preferred sites for the two Dublin facilities. Following a public tender competition, the HSE appointed a design team and project controls team at the end of 2024. The design team is progressing design and engagement to inform statutory planning submissions and the regulatory approvals required. I go back again to my infrastructure point.

Surveys and site investigations have been conducted, which are informing the design and planning applications for enabling works that are expected to be submitted shortly. The design team is also progressing detailed design and tender documents to commence procurement for the main works. The granting of full planning permission for the Cork and Galway main works, expected to be submitted next year, will determine when construction works can commence.

The Dublin plans will also be progressed, using the principle of design once, build four times to optimise efficiencies, delivery timelines and value for money. Delivering these new facilities will require significant investment. I am engaging with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, to secure the necessary funding through the NDP review. In the interim, new surgical hubs have been developed, with south Dublin already operational and those in north Dublin, Waterford, Galway, Cork and Limerick now under construction and expected to open for patients during the course of this year and next.

Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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The elective hospitals are absolutely critical health infrastructure. In the past, acute and emergency cases have had to compete with elective cases, with people who had waited long periods having their elective surgery deferred. We often talk about the emergency room as being the focus point but it is really just a symptom of lack of capacity within our health services. I am very happy with what the Minister has outlined in terms of developing capacity in the health service. We need to alleviate demand and separate out acute care from elective care.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I completely agree. It is important to note that engagement with planning authorities is under way on agreement in regard to the principle of design once, build four times. I really cannot overstate that there is no room for local variation or perspectives. This is about doing something in the most efficient way and also having the ability to move between the different elective hospitals without any difficulty whatsoever. These elective hospitals will alleviate pressure on major hospitals. Precisely as the Deputy said, we should not have elective capacity within an acute hospital, which should be for the treatment of significant illness and trauma. The disruption that can happen for various reasons in acute hospitals delays planned surgeries and takes up capacity that should be there for urgent and emergency care within the acute system. My priority will be to secure the funding to advance these projects and also, working with the House, to revise the infrastructure guidelines to get to a way where we can build more effectively and efficiently, which is what we need for these projects in particular.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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I sincerely wish the Minister every success. The elective hospital in Cork is supposed to be ready next year. It is now at design stage and will go to planning next year. It is years behind schedule. We were promised an elective hospital 20 years ago. The Minister is new in her role and I cannot land this on her shoulders, but I can land it on the shoulders of the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members who made promises every election year that the new elective hospital would be delivered in Cork. They went missing when the election was over. I will work with the Minister and do everything I can to ensure the new elective hospital in Cork is delivered. The project needs to be fast-tracked. The waiting lists in Cork are absolutely scandalous. The need for this elective hospital and for elective surgeries is absolutely huge. In Sarsfield Court, we have a perfect site of nearly 100 acres on the northside of the city next to Glanmire. I wish the Minister every success but the project must be fast-tacked.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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While I agree with the Deputy, local issues that come up, including site selection and other questions like that, all delay the delivery of the different hospitals. We simply need to move forward with all of them in the most efficient way.

In Cork, the HSE is progressing that enabling package in advance of the main construction, including pitch and putt relocation, site clearance and demolition work, site access, roadworks and the planning applications to be submitted on a phased basis from September 2025 while work in Galway includes demolition and site clearance, with the planning application to be submitted in September 2025. That engagement with planning authorities is under way.