Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is important to note that the locations chosen will allow for new facilities of a size and scale to implement a national elective care programme that will tackle waiting lists on a national basis. This means the new facilities will be designed to maximise their capacity and, in doing so, will operate to meet the demands of as wide a catchment area as possible, extending beyond existing and future health areas, including Limerick and the mid-west.

As well as the strategic intervention under the new national programme for elective care, the Minister has said he will consider any similar proposal by the University Limerick Hospitals Group put forward to deliver elective day-care in the shorter term. When the Minister was there recently, the sod was turned on a new development. I understand this development will take up to two years and I appreciate the challenges that are there, but progress is being made.

I assure the Senator that he remains committed to the continued improvement of the elective care system in Ireland. I have just come from the Dáil where a similar question was raised about the proposed hospital to be located in Cork. As part of this, the Minister will keep an open mind to any considered proposal brought forward as to how elective day care can be delivered in the shorter term for the Limerick area.