Vol. 385 No. 2
asked the Minister for Health if he will clarify when and the way in which he received approval from the Minister for Finance for the purchase of £10 million worth of equipment for the major new units at Cavan, County Cavan, Castlebar, County Mayo, Mullingar, County Westmeath and St. James's Hospital, Dublin 8 by way of deferred purchase, as outlined in his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 91 of 10 November 1988; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
54.
asked the Minister for Health if he will outline the repayment terms, including the interest rate and period of repayment, for the £2.5 million loan granted by the Banque Nationale de Paris in respect of the equipping of Cavan General Hospital; whether this loan is to be repaid by the North Eastern Health Board or by his Department; whether it is seen as an item of current expenditure or of capital expenditure; if he will give details of any similar foreign loans negotiated on behalf of any of the new units in Castlebar, County Mayo, Mullingar, County Westmeath or St. James's Hospital, Dublin 8; whether any previous Minister at his Department authorised similar foreign borrowing arrangements; if so, the purpose for which it was used; when this occurred; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 40 and 54 together.
Two specific approvals to the purchase of hospital equipment, to the value of £24 million, by deferred payment were given to the Department of Health in the past two years, viz.
(a) Approval to the purchase of £14 million of equipment for the new units at Beaumont and the Mater Hospital given by the previous Government on 30 January 1987, which was borrowed from AIB and Banque Nationale de Paris.
(b) Approval to the purchase of £10 million of equipment for the new units at Cavan, Castlebar, Mullingar and St. James's given by specific Government decision dated 27 January 1988, which was borrowed from the Banque Nationale de Paris.
The specific details of the arrangements entered into with the various banking groups, after competitive tendering, in relation to the funding of these equipment packages, were approved by the Department of Finance. None of these packages involved foreign borrowing. As the Deputy will appreciate it would not be appropriate to publicise specific details of the arrangements entered into with the banking groups, but in all cases repayments are spread over five years and fall to be met from the Revenue allocations of the respective bodies.
