Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Taoiseach. I welcome Mr. Tomás Heneghan to the Chamber and I congratulate him on his advocacy on a lot of different matters, particularly Seanad reform and the extension of the franchise in Seanad elections to all university and technological university graduates.

It is five years since the Saolta Hospital Group promised that the planning permission for the new emergency department, paediatric and maternity building in Galway would go for planning permission. It is five years on and there is still no date for that in sight. I have raised this on numerous occasions since then. The chief executive officer of the HSE has admitted that capital infrastructure in Galway is years behind the rest of the country and that the need for investment is evident in Galway in the context of our university hospital.I ask the Taoiseach to intervene again to ensure we will get what is required for the citizens of Galway and the wider region.