Cyprian Brady (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, and am glad of the opportunity to discuss the health service. I wish to speak about my constituency of Dublin Central, which includes the Mater and Temple Street Children's Hospitals. Some €16 million was invested last March in the project to relocate Temple Street Children's Hospital to the Mater Hospital complex, the most significant health service investment in the country. Some commentators cannot decide where the problems are but flit about without settling on any specifics. I have witnessed the effort and professionalism of the staff in Temple Street Children's Hospital. They are committed to providing a first-class service to the children of Dublin and elsewhere.

The Mater Hospital complex has been allocated an investment of €600 million, which will provide for a new accident and emergency department, operating theatres, day units, outpatient facilities and on-call rooms. Earlier this year, a new heart and lung transplant unit was opened. These are concrete developments. I dispute Senator Browne's contention regarding a concentration on Dublin and I shall list some of the indisputable facts. There have been developments in cardiology and radiotherapy at University College Hospital Galway; a new oncology unit is in operation in Limerick Regional Hospital; Cork University Hospital has a new radiotherapy centre and a chest pain clinic; and there is a new medical assessment unit and additional beds in St. Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny.