asked the Minister for Health if he will state (1) the total cost to local authorities, the State and the Hospitals Trust Fund of tuberculosis institutions, nurses' homes and hospitals the building of which started between the years 1948 and 1951 and (2) the approximate cost which the erection of these buildings would have entailed if they had been erected in (a) 1932, (b) 1935 and (c) 1939.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cost of Tuberculosis Institutions, Nurses' Homes and Hospitals.
The information sought in the first part of the question is not readily available and will take some time to prepare, as it involves an examination of departmental records concerning a large number of building projects. If the Deputy cares to put down this part of the question at a later date, the information requested will be furnished.
The information sought in the second part of the question is not available in my Department. In any event, as the Deputy will appreciate, such estimates of cost could only be conjectural. Moreover, institutions which might have been built during these years could not have embodied many features which have been incorporated in institutions built since the end of the Second World War as a result of recent considerable advances in medical and scientific knowledge. This fact alone would render valueless any attempted comparison in costs.