I move amendment No. 3:—
In sub-section (1), page 3, line 43, to delete the words "or near" and to add after the word "Dublin" the words "adjacent to the site of the existing hospitals".
The purpose of the amendment is to see if we can fix the site for this hospital. In the course of the discussion on the Second Reading, it was variously debated whether or not any decision had been taken to have the site of the new hospital otherwise than either on or adjacent to the site of the existing hospitals. There was definitely a rumour current in the city, a rumour which was ventilated in this House, that a decision had been taken, or at least that there was a proposal to move the hospital from the present site up to Cabra. Towards the end of the debate a statement was made that no clear decision had been taken to move the new hospital up to Cabra. Later, I think, Deputy Hannigan asked if the House could get an assurance that the site at Cabra would not be lightly decided upon. I understood from the answer given to that question that, so far from there being any idea of lightly deciding on a transfer of the hospital from its present position to somewhere else, it was almost outside the consideration of the Parliamentary Secretary that the site should be so moved. I would like to have it definitely stated now that the site is not merely to be in the City of Dublin— that, of course, would include Cabra— but that it is to be adjacent to the existing hospitals.
I want, as far as I can, to tie the Parliamentary Secretary down to this: that the new hospital will be built either on the site of the existing hospitals, or will be convenient to it. In that connection the Parliamentary Secretary, on the last occasion the Bill was before the House, conveyed to Deputies the idea that it would not be possible to erect a 550-bed hospital on the present site. Dublin members know something about the site of the existing hospitals, but whether they know the amount of space available there is another matter. Country members, I think, would have gained the impression from the debate on the last occasion that the present Richmond Hospital is in an area where it is completely surrounded by buildings, huddled together and almost on top of it, and that even if the site was cleared, or in some way reconstructed, it would not permit of a proper hospital of the 550-bed type being erected there. If that is the impression that was thought to be created it is an erroneous one, because there is plenty of room there. I think it can be said that of all the public hospitals in Dublin the Richmond has probably more room for extension than any of them. The Hospitals Commission, so far from reporting against the present site, reported in favour of it. The commission had certainly in their viewpoint the necessity for a hospital of at least the 550-bed type. It is right to say that if the new hospital were to be extended beyond 600 beds it might be a bit cramped. I am told that medical authorities do not favour going beyond the 550-bed type of hospital. If provision is to be made for a hospital over and beyond that figure, I understand it becomes rather uneconomic. Circumstances will drive towards making for the building of a hospital of the 550-bed type.
There is plenty of room for that on the present site, and the Hospitals Commission have so reported. In addition, a number of architects have been engaged in investigating the possibilities of the Richmond site, and of the type of hospital that could be erected there. Without a single exception the architects believe that there is the fullest scope for a hospital of the 550-bed type on the present site. I, personally, from previous acquaintance with the medical world, had opportunities of visiting the Richmond site. I made it my business to visit it recently, and up to the date of my last visit I was not at all aware of the possibilities of extension that are there. The site would have to be cleared, and while that was being done, no doubt some transitory arrangements would have to be made so as to provide for patients while portion of the new building was going up. But, from the point of view of space, there is ample room on the present site. There is a tradition about the present Richmond Hospital. It serves an enormous proportion of the citizens of Dublin. I do not think that the proposals spoken of here as regards a site elsewhere, and of providing transport facilities for students and for visitors wishing to visit patients would at all equate the convenience of the present site, and the opportunity it offers for students to get their teaching there.