Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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46. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 1373 of 25 July 2023, to provide a status update on the Strategic Assessment Report/ Preliminary Business Case for the new emergency department, women and children's block at University Hospital Galway; the timeline for the completion of the SAR/PBC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40729/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Strategic Assessment Report (SAR) review for the new Emergency Department, Women and Children's Block at University Hospital Galway has been completed. The output of the review has been shared with the HSE to ensure that the new SAR/Preliminary Business Case (PBC) document, as now required under the updates to the Public Spending Code (PSC) of March 2023, is as robust as possible.

The Project team has been working to finalise the new SAR/Preliminary Business Case, incorporating the outputs of the Department of Health’s SAR review and the PSC changes.

The Department understands that the new SAR/PBC has now been submitted by the Project Team to the HSE for approval. If approved by the HSE, the SAR/PBC will be subject to further review and Government consent before it can proceed to the pre-tender stage, as set out in the Public Spending Code. The timeline for this will be determined by when the SAR/PBC is received by the Department.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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47. To ask the Minister for Health the hospitals that currently have free Wi-Fi in public areas as of August 2023, in tabular form; and the estimated cost of ensuring that every public hospital in this country has Wi-Fi available for patients. [40619/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy, I have referred your question to the HSE as this is an operational matter and the HSE will be best placed to provide the latest information.

The department do understand the need for more ubiquitous access to WiFi, not just for patients in public areas but also for staff to access clinical systems, and our ongoing investment in technical infrastructure will go some considerable way towards addressing this, mindful of the need always to ensure cyber resilience when expanding this capability.