asked the Minister for Health if he can state when building operations will commence on the following new hospitals: St. Vincent's, St. Laurence's, Coombe, Dublin Fever and Crumlin Children's.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Building of New Hospitals.
Crumlin Children's Hospital of over 300 beds and Dublin Fever Hospital of nearly 300 beds are the farthest advanced in planning and it is hoped to commence construction work before the end of the year. The hospitals, when built, will be the largest of their kind in the country.
Provision for the three remaining hospitals mentioned in the question has been made in the seven-year hospital construction programme which I outlined in the House last year. These, like the other two hospitals mentioned earlier, will be the largest of their kind, and involve an enormous amount of planning. The planning is still at a relatively early stage, and I feel that I might mislead the House if I were to attempt now to estimate when building work can commence. I can assure the Deputy, however, that no effort will be spared in my Department to ensure that the full seven-year national hospital building programme —estimated to cost £17,500,000—will be carried through in the period and I have every reason to feel confident that the special measures which have been taken to achieve that object will be successful.