asked the Minister for Health if, in the circumstances, he will reconsider his £25,000 fine on the Mater Hospital for carrying out a liver transplant operation and if he will reassure Dáil Éireann that such a fine will not affect the ability of the hospital to provide a continuing high standard of service.
Written Answers. - Dublin Hospital Fine.
53.
I would like to reassure the House that the issue which arose over the recent performance of liver transplant operation at the Mater Hospital including a reduction of £25,000 in the hospital's allocation for 1985 will not in any way affect the standard of service normally provided at the hospital. I am not at present reconsidering this reduction.
As I recently informed the House, the board of the Mater Hospital having again reviewed the situation following the operation and my decision has now accepted my policy to designate St. Vincent's Hospital, in association with Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, as the national liver transplant centre. A meeting is taking place today, 18 December 1985, between senior officers of my Department and representatives of the Mater Hospital to make arrangements for full co-operation between St. Vincent's, Our Lady's and the Mater Hospitals in the work of the designated liver transplant centre.