Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We can keep going around in circles all day long and we can challenge every single project that is proposed by the HSE and say it is not going to happen because of the children's hospital, but I have just outlined in my answer that there is an additional €75 million included this year to allow for the increased costs associated with the children's hospital. Next year, there is a €200 million additional reserve included in the summer economic statement to allow for any increased costs associated with either that or the national broadband plan, so there is no reason for us to challenge and question continually the validity of the building programme. A total of €10.9 billion has been committed to delivering those projects. In the grand scale of things the children's hospital is a tiny and minute fraction of that overall project. The idea that we can politically continue to challenge the sustainability and viability of every promised delivery will not continue to stand up to scrutiny into the future.

I assure the Senator again that the two projects he is concerned about are on track, will be progressed and are progressing. Meetings are taking place with Monaghan County Council as we speak on that front. That development will continue.