Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the response on behalf of the Department of Health. While there was a good deal of information in it, the salient point is that no date has yet been set for the planning application for the main building. Despite Saolta University Health Care Group telling the then Minister, Deputy Harris, in September 2018 that the application would be lodged before the following Christmas, there is as yet no date for the main application for the building. Temporary works are being carried out which will be completed in early 2022. The way things are going, that will be 2023. Of course it is a complex project, and it is stated that it is in the early stages of design progression. People were talking about it and showing us the designs years ago. A great show is put on when Ministers visit. Saolta University Health Care Group said it would lodge a planning application before Christmas 2018, but it still has not lodged it and is nowhere near doing so, by all accounts.

I am greatly concerned by the response from the Department. I am not getting personal with the Minister of State, but I am extremely frustrated by the abject failure to deliver the first phase of this project, which is the planning permission.