David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that the design team has been appointed, that a planning application will potentially be lodged in the second quarter of this year, and that towards the end of the year we could move to construction. At the same time, there is a caveat in the Minister's response, in that it is subject to capital funding which has not been ring-fenced. My understanding of what the Minister for Health is saying is that it is based on priority in terms of need, and that HIQA has identified a number of facilities which are not, as they see it, up to standard. The obvious question is whether Waterford is one of those areas. The Minister said that HIQA had identified a number of units that do not fully meet the standards one would expect to find in a modern nursing home. I would imagine from that, then, that the Minister is looking at those facilities to make sure we do not end up with a situation in which units are closed, leaving older people without facilities, because we did not build the new units that are needed.

While there seems to be good news in this, there is a strong caveat as well in that we cannot guarantee that the funding is there at this point in time, but the expectation is that towards the end of the year we will move to construction. It is my responsibility as an opposition Oireachtas Member in Waterford to push Waterford's case. Again, the question to the Minister is, in light of those HIQA inspections and with the Minister working on a priority basis, has HIQA identified Waterford and St. Patrick's Hospital as belonging to one of those areas where there are potential problems with the existing facilities?