Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes but we just need to be careful that it does not slow things down.Those involved locally have a very understandable instinct to ask why, if we are building it, we cannot just add the other thing that we need. In Galway, that meant nothing happened for years. We can of course look at this with an open mind.

Colleagues raised the issue of timing. The public spending code was not fit for purpose. The Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, deserves great credit. I told him we need to fundamentally reform this in healthcare and he really delivered. He moved the envelope in terms of the public spending code from €100 million to €200 million. That means a lot of the bed projects we are all looking for around the country now do not need to go through the public spending code because they are between the €100 million and €200 million figure. That is really important. Previously, there was a 17-stage process involving four Government decisions required. That is all being streamlined. Credit is due to the Ministers, Deputies McGrath and O'Donoghue, on delivering on that.

I looked through some of the notes. There are approximately 500 capital projects in train across the country. There are 112 beds in the Mater, including 94 isolation rooms, 16 intensive care beds and highly infectious diseases suites. In the Coombe, there will be 37 new beds and some of the facilities are being upgraded. The existing medical ward in Mallow General Hospital, which is not fit for purpose, is being replaced, and there are 48 beds there. There are 12 beds in Naas, 96 beds in Limerick, 42 beds in Sligo, which are much needed, and 30 beds in Tipperary, in terms of refurbishment projects.

There are primary care centres throughout the country. One of these was opened in Galway last Friday, which is fantastic. There are 500 new state-of-the-art community beds. We do not talk about these things very often, but there is a quiet transformation going on in terms of community care where older people, and some vulnerable people, have been in eight or four-bed wards for years which is not appropriate accommodation. Right across the country, we are opening hundreds of new beds that are single-room occupancy. They are the kind of places where people can live and have dignity, privacy and respect. We do not talk about that much, but it is making a huge difference.

In terms of primary care centres, 167 are now fully operational. I opened the 167th a week ago. However, we are not stopping there. There are 13 more under construction, with nine expected to complete construction this year. I thank colleagues for their feedback. It is an ambitious and important plan. Critically, it is aimed at making sure that patients can get the care they need when they need it.