Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Health to the House. Without doubt, he has the hardest job in government, although overseeing the housing portfolio is another hard job. We all know that the Government, politicians and the political system will be judged on how they deliver on health in the short term. I say short-term because we do not have much time. At best, we may have months. People are impatient for improvements. In many cases, they are impatient due to their personal experiences of the health service. If a family member or loved one is sick or waiting, we share his or her concern. We are talking about somebody's son, daughter, mother, father or grandfather. We become frustrated when we see family members or people who are close to us having to wait or suffering. A change in Government will not change that. The solution is planning and creating a solid foundation for the future. This is a slow process, which will have its disappointments and setbacks but also gains.

I acknowledge that the Minister has a very hard job to do. Sometimes we do not give credit where it is due but many positive things have happened. I thank the Minister for getting the National Rehabilitation Hospital, NRH, project back on track. Under the Fine Gael-Labour Party regime and different Governments, a state-of-the-art NRH facility was promised. The project suffered setbacks and was suspended for financial reasons so morale was low. People waited years to access rehabilitation services, which meant they were stuck in acute hospital beds when they should have been getting rehabilitation treatment. I am glad the project is now back on track. I hope there will be no further setbacks.

I ask the Minister, through his contacts with the board of the hospital and the HSE, to ensure there is greater focus on this project. Half the problem is that good stories are not getting into the public domain. People are still saying they may not get budgets or funding will be cut. There are three phases in the roll-out of the NRH project. It is important that we use the health services and the boards of these organisations, hospitals and healthcare services to share good news. It is a good news story that the NRH is back on track. I thank the Minister for overseeing the project. The Taoiseach and the Minister attended the ceremony to commemorate the turning of the foundation stone to mark the second phase. As the Minister may not have the information to hand maybe in the next week or two he could drop me, or anyone else for that matter, a line on the current status of the national rehabilitation hospital project.