26. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport for an update on the development of a permanent successor scheme to the basic income for the arts pilot; his plans to publish the cost benefit analysis paper; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52574/25]

Sentiment score: 0.20

80. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Health if her Department’s review of the development control plan and strategic assessment report for the University Hospital Galway campus has been completed to date; if not, the expected timeline for the review to be completed and the documents returned to the HSE; the details of the enabling works underway; the details of any further enabling works planned; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52567/25]

Sentiment score: 0.01

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for exercising his discretion. It is back to the matter of University Hospital Galway. I know the Minister is familiar with it now. I am asking very specific questions in relation to her Department's review of the development control plan and the strategic assessment report for the University Hospital Galway campus. Has it been completed? What is its status, if it has not been completed? When will it be completed? What are the details of the enabling works under way at the moment? What further enabling works are necessary?

Sentiment score: 0.04

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive reply. I will look at it in detail. When I look back at the history of this, the language keeps changing. There is now a strategic plan, a preliminary business case and the strategic assessment report. I welcome what the Minister has given me and the face we will make progress but in 2014, the then Minister, Leo Varadkar, said a new hospital and a new building was the only solution. I will not go through all of this but the questions and answers over the last five years do not give hope this will be completed. The Minister says the two things I have asked for are with her Department and will be going back to the HSE in the next few weeks. I take it that will happen in the next few weeks. A preliminary business case is under way. Who will carry that out and when will that be completed? The Minister has given details on the enabling works. When will the plan be implemented? Is there any overall date for when the master plan will be implemented?

Sentiment score: 0.06

I agree with the Minister. I know the hospital very well and I know about the very good services that are provided there. When people get a service, it is absolutely brilliant and I have no problem saying that. I am a committed believer in the public health system. My difficulty is that as we speak, there are 35 people on trolleys, or there was that number yesterday. It has been under enormous pressure for a very long time. I spared the Minister the reading-out of the various comments and all the timelines that were given for different plans to be completed, none of which have been completed. They came forward to the Department of Health, they went back down and they came back up. We then got an oversight management team and many other objectives that were never delivered. In my opinion, a brand new hospital should have been built in Merlin Park but that did not happen. That was actually the options appraisal that was carried out and it said we should build a brand new one. The Government did not give permission for that so we went back to a congested site with many plans going in lots of directions. That is what we have now. At this stage, all I can do is keep the pressure on to get delivery.

Sentiment score: 0.04