James Bannon (Fine Gael)

What has this budget done to end the 11 years of waiting for the completion of phase 2B of Mullingar hospital? Eleven years of budget after budget and the same old song, but nothing copperfastened and nothing was done in today's budget. As the people in the Longford-Westmeath are only too aware, rumour has it that the Government plans to string us along until after the general election and then pull the plug on Mullingar. This budget, like every other since 1997, has done nothing to allay the fears of the people of Longford-Westmeath. Continued representations on my part have failed to get a timescale for the completion of phase 2B from the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children.