Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

All help would be welcomed.

I looked at the submissions made in the context of the mid-term review and a substantial proportion of them referenced the M20 project. Coming from Limerick, the Minister of State will know just how important that road project is in having an Atlantic corridor which links Cork, through Limerick, with Galway as a counterpoint to Dublin. The new Tuam-Gort bypass is being opened today, which is very welcome. We see it as another link. It should be possible to travel from Cork to Limerick in an hour and also from Limerick to Galway in an hour. Therefore, the journey from Cork to Galway should take no longer than two hours. A substantial part of the planning process was completed by November 2011 and preliminary work by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, is ongoing, which will allow the project to advance. I hope that in the new plan to be announced following the mid-term capital review the M20 project will be a priority. The work could be done on a staged basis. In 2011 the preferred route was via Croom, Charleville, Buttevant and Mallow. The section from Limerick to Mallow is key and should be stage one. The M20 project is critical from the point of view of connectivity. It is also critical from a safety perspective because there are fatalities on the N20 far too regularly. If we are to speak meaningfully about the need for balanced regional development, we cannot do so without the M20 being in place.

While the new emergency department in University Hospital Limerick is very welcome, there is a hospital beds capacity issue. When the reconfiguration took place, the emergency departments in Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's hospitals were closed, which meant that 50 beds were taken out of the system. As part of the reconfiguration, a new 138-bed unit was to be built via a public private partnership on the grounds of University Hospital Limerick, but it never came to pass. We have secured funding through the HSE to progress the design phase for a 90-bed acute unit alongside the emergency department. I would like to see that unit progressed under the capital plan. I would also like to see the maternity hospital moved from the existing site to the grounds of University Hospital Limerick.

I would like to see the three projects mentioned - the M20, the 90-bed acute unit in University Hospital Limerick and the relocation of the maternity unit to the site of University Hospital Limerick to improve the cohesiveness of the care provided - included in the new national plan. When is it expected that announcements will be made on the new capital plan? Will they form part of the budget day announcements?