Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister of State's reply, but I am disappointed. I cannot be satisfied with it. I do not mean that personally where the Minister of State is concerned, but this saga has been ongoing for years. I believe the first proposal to move the Rotunda dates back to the 1990s. The women of Dublin and the women of Ireland deserve better. There was a planned move in 2007. In 2015, an announcement was made by the then Minister to the effect that the three maternity hospitals were going to be relocated. The other maternity hospitals have received significant investment and I accept that the HSE has given some funding to the Rotunda, but there was no point in spending €100,000 on a strategic assessment if we were not going to act on it now.

The Government's spend is €10.9 billion. That is a great investment in health services, but the women of Ireland deserve some of that. This is a modest, pragmatic and sound investment proposal. The total cost of creating a critical care wing in the Rotunda would be €61 million. The Connolly proposal is over €500 million. What will be the period involved? Will it be 15, 20 or 30 years? I implore the Minister of State to speak with the Minister. I would like him to meet the master of the Rotunda. If the Minister of State could attend that meeting as well, it would be great. It is important that we not ignore the risks facing not only the mothers, babies and families every day, but also the staff. It is unfair to put staff into these risky situations. It is also unfair on the mothers and babies who are relying on the Rotunda for their health services.