asked the Minister for Health in relation to the equipping of the new Cavan General Hospital, County Cavan: (a) if he has given approval to the North-Eastern Health Board to raise £2.5 million by way of a loan from the Banque Nationale de Paris, (b) the terms of the proposed loan, (c) if approval has been sought and obtained by him from the Minister for Finance for this transaction, (d) if any provision has been made in the 1989 health capital programme for this equipment for the hospital, (e) if the proposed loan is additional to the 1989 Health Capital Estimate, (f) if he intends to make a similar facility available to other health boards to finance their capital programmes and (g) the total cost of equipping the new Cavan General Hospital.
Written Answers. - Cavan General Hospital.
91.
As announced by the Minister for Finance in his 1988 budget speech, approval was given in 1988 to the purchase of £10 million of equipment for the major new units at Cavan, Castlebar, Mullingar and St. James's, by way of deferred purchase.
£2.5 million of this approval was in respect of Cavan General Hospital.
The contract for financing the deferred payment package was awarded to Banque National de Paris after competitive tendering. The arrangements entered into were approved by the Department of Finance.
A total of £3.7 million has been approved for the equipping of Cavan General Hospital, £1.2 million of which has already been spent on heavy items of equipment such as kitchen units and X-ray machinery.