I thank the Chair for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment and the Minister of State for coming in to reply.
The question of Naas hospital has been occupying the minds of public representatives in County Kildare for many years. In 1987 the former Minister, Mr. Barry Desmond, announced that the first phase of the development programme was to proceed. Further stages of the programme would cover the refurbishment of the theatre, outpatients' department and radiography department. In 1996, in line with public requests, the previous Minister decided to sanction stage 2 at a cost of £21.5 million. Final approval was given in May this year.
In reply to Parliamentary Question No. 90 on 1 October the Minister stated that the plan was being considered by the Eastern Health Board and the Department. The time for consideration, review and revision is long past. The position is so serious that following admission patients have to wait on trolleys in waiting areas and virtually have to share beds. The staff are finding it difficult to deliver the services expected in a major hospital.
This issue has not been politicised and I hope it never will be. The need is self-evident.
Any attempts to delay or in any way retard progress on the second stage of this development programme will be met by a very strong groundswell of reaction by the public in the Naas area, the fastest developing area in the country whose needs are obvious and have been well enunciated.
One school of thought is that the provision of additional wards would solve the problem. That suggestion is part of another agenda within certain sectors of the medical hierarchy who contend that the provision of additional wards would meet immediate needs and that the hospital could be downgraded and used for other purposes at a later stage. Such a proposal would be totally unacceptable.
I hope the Minister will inform us of his intention to allow the programme proceed as quickly as possible. While accepting that the drawing and approval stages must first be gone through, it is imperative that the plan proceed, as announced, in 1998. Any deviation from that timescale would be a serious blow to staff morale and to those who have been expecting that programme to be proceeded with for quite a long time.