asked the Minister for Health whether it is proposed to use the vacant beds and facilities available at the James Connolly hospital, Dublin, for any other purpose.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Hospital.
4.
Yes, to provide general medical and surgical services. I hope to set up a corporate body in the next few weeks which will involve joint participation by Dublin Health Authority and the north Dublin voluntary general hospitals. This body will take over the administration of the James Connolly Memorial Hospital and will develop medical and surgical services there.
In relation to the board of management, will it have predominating local authority representation, will it be equal, or will the chairman be either a nominee of the Minister or of the voluntary hospitals?
I am not sure about the chairman but the new body will be composed of six nominees from the Dublin Health Authority, one of whom will be chairman, and three from each of the voluntary hospitals, that is to say the Mater, Jervis Street and St. Lawrence's.
Is that a representation of 9 to 6?
Yes.
Therefore there will be a preponderance of voluntary nominated persons rather than local authority persons?
That is correct.
Is the Minister incorporating St. Lawrence's Hospital with the James Connolly Hospital in Dublin?
No, the three hospitals are going to open services for acute medical care in the James Connolly hospital. This is in some ways a really epoch making event; perhaps it might not seem so to the ordinary public but this is the first occasion on which three great voluntary hospitals have agreed to co-ordinate together in order to provide services at a fourth hospital which is not now fully utilised. As a result the rationalisation of the specialities now provided in the three voluntary hospitals can be proceeded with according to the lines suggested in the FitzGerald Report. It is a genuine breakthrough. I am sure there will be many difficulties in bringing it about finally but it is the first example of rationalisation and co-ordination because of the very great growing number of specialities and the enormous expense of laboratory equipment.
What will be the position of St. Columcille's Hospital in Loughlinstown?
It is not affected by the present proposal.
Are we to take it then, in view of the proposals which the Minister has outlined, that there will be no further expansion of St. Lawrence's Hospital on to the new site in the Navan Road area which was outlined in the 1943 Act?
That is not contemplated at the moment. As the Deputy knows, with the growth of the population in Dublin city in the north, north-west and north-east, in relation to the new Dublin city plan, there will be a need for a large regional hospital in that area and that, also, would require further agreement and we have not yet succeeded in obtaining agreement among all parties concerned for a great new regional hospital to be undertaken jointly by the Mater, St. Lawrence's and Jervis Street.
Will there be an opportunity for the House to debate the order establishing either the joint federated and St. Kevin's Hospital, and this proposal here, the North Dublin hospitals with the James Connolly Hospital? Will there be any opportunity to debate this retrograde development, the loss of power by local representatives on the expenditure of money to very expensive items and——
I have no intention of allowing time for a debate on this issue. I have made the position perfectly clear during the passage of the Health Act and during the debate on the Estimate.
But the Minister has to make an order.