Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 4 May 1993

Vol. 430 No. 2

Written Answers. - Closure of Adelaide Hospital.

Pat Rabbitte

Question:

67 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the report prepared for the Annual Synod of the Church of Ireland in May 1993, which states that the cause of reconciliation in Ireland will be seriously damaged if the Adelaide Hospital is closed or forced into some anonymous merger; the response, if any, he has given to the report: and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Health (Mr. Howlin)

I am aware of the contents of the recent report prepared for the Annual Synod of the Church of Ireland relating to the Adelaide Hospital.

I have reiterated on many occasions the clear commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government to the protection of the ethos and traditions of the Adelaide Hospital.

The ethos of the Adelaide Hospital has played a distinctive role in the development of Irish health care, due in no small part to the quality of its nurse training. This tradition will be maintained in the new Tallaght Hospital and 40 places in the new nursing school will be reserved for nurses from the Adelaide tradition.

I recently informed the Meath, Adelaide and National Children's Hospitals that Professor David Kennedy and Mr. David Kingston had agreed to act as facilitators with regard to the formation of an agreement between the three hospitals on the board structure and management for the new hospital at Tallaght. Discussions are now underway and I have asked that this work be completed by June of this year.

I am confident that it will be possible to reach an agreement which fully protects the interests of all the parties concerned.