asked the Minister for Health when it is expected to complete negotiations with Drumcondra Hospital and the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin; and what facilities will be available at Drumcondra Hospital when it is administered by the Rotunda Hospital.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Hospitals.
6.
An architect's report on Drumcondra Hospital has recently been received in my Department and the report is being examined at present as a matter of urgency.
Can the Minister state when he expects Drumcondra Hospital to come under the board of the Rotunda Hospital?
No decision has been arrived at. We are merely examining the hospital to see whether it would lend itself to this concept.
7.
asked the Minister for Health if, in view of the provisional figures available from the latest population census, his Department have considered amending the recommendations contained in the Fitzgerald report for the Dublin area; and whether further consideration will be given to the original plans for the building of the new St. Laurence Hospital, Dublin.
The Fitzgerald report in chapter 10.3 refers to the projections made in relation to the population of the Dublin area and suggests in chapter 10.16 that at a future date it may be necessary to have a second community hospital in South Dublin.
I have already said in reply of 30th June, 1971, to a question from the Deputy that the plans envisaged some years ago for the building of a new St. Laurence's Hospital are no longer relevant taking into account the recommendations in the Fitzgerald report.
Having regard to the figures and the section from which the Minister has quoted, does the Minister not think that with one-third of the population of this country in the Greater Dublin area there is a need for a second general hospital on the north side of the city of Dublin, which is under-hospitalised compared with the south side? There is a complete lack of adequate hospital facilities for patients on the north side of the city.
It is planned to bring into operation 120 beds in the Blanchardstown James Connolly Memorial Hospital within the next 12 months. Some beds are already being used and that forms part of the Fitzgerald report proposal. The question of a regional hospital is still under examination.
Surely the Minister must agree that the Blanchardstown Hospital is inaccessible to the great majority of patients in north Dublin. They have no way of getting there unless they come into the city centre and go back out again. The majority of the patients will be channelled into the Mater Hospital. In view of the fact that plans, a site and a board of governors are already in existence, does he not think that he should go ahead with the building of the St. Laurence Hospital as was very properly planned some years ago?
I am sure the Minister is pleased to know that 80 of the 120 beds are already filled.
If Deputy Byrne looks at a map of the Greater Dublin development on the north side of the city he will see that the development of Blanchardstown Hospital is quite inevitable from a geographical point of view. The hospital grounds are there, and the beds in the hospital which are no longer used for tuberculosis purposes can be made use of. There is a very active committee, of which a member of the Deputy's party is chairman, developing the facilities there. We are still examining the question of where a regional hospital should be placed.
8.
asked the Minister for Health the total grant paid to the new St. Vincent's Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin; the plans for the disposal of the present hospital site at St. Stephen's Green; and if it is intended that the proceeds of the sale of these premises will go to the Exchequer.
Grants from the Hospitals Trust Fund totalling £4.2 million have been made to date to the Irish Sisters of Charity in respect of the building and commissioning of the new St. Vincent's Hospital at Elm Park.
I provided the information requested in the last part of the question when I replied to another question by the Deputy on 9th December, 1970 (Dáil Debates, column 451).
May I ask the Minister to elaborate on this? Perhaps he would now reply to the second part of the question. He replied previously in 1970. This is the end of 1971. I should like to know what is to happen about the disposal of the property in St. Stephen's Green. Will the money accruing from this go to the Exchequer? Could I have that information from the Minister?
This relates to a reference in the report. There is nothing about which there can be any argument. It is there quite specifically.
May I ask the Minister—otherwise I will raise this matter on the Adjournment with your permission——
I doubt that the Ceann Comhairle would give permission to raise that question when the Deputy has only to look up the reference.
The Minister did not give a satisfactory reply in 1970. Will the proceeds from the sale of the St. Stephen's Green site go to the Exchequer?
The proceeds from the Leeson Street site will go to the Exchequer and the St. Stephen's Green site remains the property of the Order. That was the original agreement made.
Who owns the £4.2 million given by the State?
The hospital is now under the ownership of the Order as in the case of other voluntary hospitals and hospitals to which extensions have been made.