asked the Minister for Health if he will state whether the statement made by Deputy Con Lehane, reported at columns 1118 and 1119 of Volume 111 of the Official Report, to the effect that the Minister for Health had been told that it would be impossible to have a certain hospital erected in six months and when he insisted that it should be done a firm was found to complete it in two months is correct; and, if so, whether he will further state: (i) the name and location of the hospital in question and the authority at whose instance it was being erected; (ii) the number of beds for which it was designed; (iii) whether it was designed as (a) a general hospital or as a hospital for the treatment of special diseases or conditions, (b) as an independent and separate institution or as an annexe to or extension of an existing establishment; (iv) whether tenders were invited by public advertisement for the erection of such hospital; and, if so, the date of such advertisement and the newspapers in which it was published.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Deputy's Statement.
The statement mentioned in the question, which I would point out referred to a hospital structure and not a hospital, was, I feel sure, made as a result of a misunderstanding arising out of a remark made by me in the course of a conversation I had recently with Deputy Lehane, during which a discussion took place on, amongst other things, various factors which were operating to delay the building of hospitals and the steps that it might be possible to take to overcome those difficulties which were standing in the way. In the course of this conversation I mentioned that I had been surprised to learn that a reputable Irish firm of contractors had estimated that they were in a position to fabricate and erect (presumably on a proposed site) a certain type of hospital staff accommodation unit in less than one month. Deputy Lehane was presumably referring to this to illustrate the point he was making in connection with the use of prefabricated houses to relieve the housing shortage.
Is the Minister satisfied that the proposition made by me to the Minister for Local Government in respect of speed in the provision of housing is supported by facts as ascertained by him?
That is a separate question, surely.
I can only say that on a cursory examination of this point up to the moment, I personally was very favourably impressed by this proposition and by the fact that it would be possible considerably to expedite this type of building by means of prefabricated material.
Am I to take from what the Minister has said to the House that the statement, made by Deputy Lehane, that it was proposed to take six months to erect a certain hospital but that at the Minister's insistence it is proposed to erect this in two months, is not correct?
Deputy MacEntee appears to be a stickler for accuracy, but in that way he has misquoted what was written down in black and white in the Dáil Reports. Deputy Lehane did not say "hospital." He said "hospital structure." That may appear to be quibbling, but to Deputy MacEntee those things appear to be very important. In so far as Deputy Lehane did not say "hospital" he was not to that extent in any way inaccurate.
Does the Minister suggest that Deputy Lehane was incorrectly reported by the Irish Independent? I took my quotation from a report in the Irish Independent.
Deputy MacEntee is well aware that there are Official Reports.
I will let the matter rest.