asked the Minister for Education the present position concerning the provision of a new dental hospital.
12.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - New Dental Hospital.
11.
asked the Minister for Education if any decision has been made on the provision of a new dental hospital.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 12 together.
The following is the present position in relation to the provision of Dental Hospital premises in Cork and Dublin. A contract for the provision of new premises for the Cork Dental Hospital was negotiated in November 1977 and work on the site commenced in December 1977. It is anticipated that the building work will be completed by November 1979.
Following the decisions to transfer the faculty of dentistry to TCD that college formally indicated its desire that a new Dublin Dental Hospital should be located at the St. James's Hospital site. A project team was established by the St. James's Hospital board to prepare a brief for the design team for the long-term development of the general hospital.
The Higher Education Authority were informed in November 1977, by my Department that it had been decided that a clinical science building should be included in the brief for the St. James's Hospital project and that the proposed new Dublin Dental Hospital should be located on the St. James's site.
The general development plan which has been completed by the project team makes provision for a clinical science building to include facilities for dental education and training.
The project team will now proceed to consideration of a detailed brief for the design team for the purpose of enabling sketch plans to be prepared. I am very pleased about that.