asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he has now received the report of the assistant county medical officer of health in connection with the proposed withdrawal of recognition of the county home, Clonakilty, County Cork, as a maternity home; and whether in view of the conditions existing in the home, it is proposed to assist the board of health out of Hospital Sweepstake Funds towards a suitable reconstruction of the building.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Clonakilty County Home and Maternity Home.
The reply to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As regards the second part of the question I would refer the Deputy to my reply of the 9th February last.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary give any indication, in view of the serious nature of this report and the consequences likely to arise from it, that any further consideration will be given to this matter?
I think it is unlikely that money can be made available out of the Hospitals Trust Fund for the purposes indicated in the question. The commitments for payment out of the fund in respect of Cork City and County are very heavy to date, amounting on a provisional estimate to £1,224,000 odd. It is considered that hospitals have the first claim on the fund, and in many counties no grant whatever has been made out of the Trust Fund. In practically every county in Éire there is an urgent hospital problem yet to be dealt with. I think that Cork has got very well away with it, notwithstanding the admitted urgency of the question concerned to-day.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary undertake to discuss this matter with the county medical officer of health, with a view to making some temporary arrangements to obviate the position outlined in the question?
Of course it is up to the board of health to make temporary arrangements if they are prepared to advance any reconstruction scheme out of their own resources. If the Deputy will satisfy me that any useful purpose can be served by such a discussion, then by all means I will discuss it, but there is very little about it of which we are not already aware. The solution is the problem.
Arising out of the Parliamentary Secretary's reply, is he aware that, while there has been a good deal of money allocated to Cork, the amount allocated to West Cork has been very small in relation to the amounts allocated to the other parts of the country? He might take that into account.
We will take everything into account, including the fact that in many counties no allocation whatever has yet taken place.
Probably they do not deserve it.
That may be the Deputy's view, but it is not mine.