Gay Mitchell
Question:229 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the cost of health expenditure on capital projects per cubic metre in each of the years 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000; and the forecast for 2001. [25568/01]
Written Answers. - Health Expenditure.
My Department's capital expenditure covers a wide range of facilities, from acute tertiary level hospital facilities, to non-acute community care facilities and health centres. The overall funding available each year also encompasses initiatives relating, for example, to re-equipping, refurbishment and health and safety issues across all healthcare programmes.
A cost per cubic metre is not a normally used indicator of capital cost and my Department does not monitor expenditure on capital projects in this manner. Monitoring of capital cost, for budgetary purposes, is undertaken on a rate per square metre and on a functional unit cost basis. Both of these indicators vary greatly, depending on the type, size, functional content, complexity and duration of the particular project in question. In the light of these wide and changing variables, it would be difficult to calculate in a meaningful way for expenditure comparison purposes the per cubic metre cost, or the square metre cost, of different projects over time. However, I have asked my Department to examine in detail roughly comparable projects for illustrative purposes and to furnish the information to the Deputy as soon as possible who might then, on receipt of the information, clarify the context of his question to my Department.