Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State. The matter I wish to raise is very straightforward. Carlow District Hospital has been awaiting a ten bed extension for over ten years. I am not talking about a brand new hospital, merely a ten bed extension. It is a very modest request.

This matter is linked to the national development plan where it is seen as an entitlement for Carlow. The extension was first mooted in the early 1990s in the Carlow town plan and promised by the rainbow Government in 1996. Plans have been drawn up since, but the cheque has never arrived to allow work get under way.

To put the matter in context, there are 22 beds in Carlow District Hospital, 11 for male patients and 11 for females, to service the needs of County Carlow. Outside of Dublin, Carlow is one of the fastest growing towns. Carlow District Hospital provides a step-down facility, respite care and a capacity for dealing with short-term chronic injuries, such as those suffered by young people in a car accident, for example. It serves an urgent need in the Carlow area.

County Carlow has been treated with contempt. I have described it before as the Cinderella of the south east in terms of health services. I do not say this lightly. I hope the Minister of State will tell me when building work will start. I hope he will not tell me that there are plans afoot or that new plans are being drawn up. The plans are in place, the land is available and the beds are urgently needed in the Carlow area. Ten extra beds would make a huge difference to many families throughout the county, from Carlow town to as far south as Borris, right across to Tullow and back across to Bagnelstown.