Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 24 Jan 1996

Vol. 460 No. 4

Adjournment Debate. - Louth County Hospital.

Mr. D. Ahern

I thank the Chair for allowing me raise this issue. Louth County Hospital has been the subject of much political abuse over many decades. I say that with some trepidation as I do not wish to imply that Deputy McGahon was party to it but since we were in Government it has been used as a political football. I do not raise this matter as a political issue and do not believe a local hospital should be the subject of political advantage.

I have no doubt the Minister is well aware that over the last while there has been a surreptitious attempt by certain interests to denigrate Louth County Hospital and a number of other hospitals of similar status. There have been media reports on this and other hospitals. Last September there was a report in the Evening Herald about which I wrote to the Minister. It more or less stated that Louth County Hospital and a number of other hospitals were targeted for closure. The hospital has put up with such reports for a number of years. The Minister wrote to me on 2 November and reported that he had no proposal to downgrade or close any hospital, including Louth County Hospital. He stated he had approved a £1 million capital development programme to facilitate improvements on which I compliment him.

What is going on and why do these reports continue to circulate? I can only surmise that some vested interests want to close the hospitals. I ask the Minister to get to the bottom of these media reports. I have no doubt he will state he has no plans to close any of these hospitals. Perhaps at some time in the future he will be able to say why these reports are made as they affect staff morale and the patients.

People in the area with an interest in retaining the hospital came together and formed a committee with the aim of collecting £250,000 towards equipment for the hospital. The health board, very kindly and properly, stated would match the contribution pound for pound. In a relatively short time the committee collected in the region of £330,000 and I compliment the health board on matching that amount.

Will the Minister find out why these reports are circulated and nail them once and for all? He should stand up to vested interests and those who say there is something wrong with the hospitals. There is room for improvement in every hospital. The Minister should look at what Louth County Hospital has to offer to Louth and Dundalk. It has a catchment population of 50,000. Previous Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Ministers have confirmed that the hospital will not close, I ask the Minister to do the same tonight and get to the bottom of these reports. He should contact those who circulate the reports and ask them on what grounds they make these unfounded allegations.

Mr. Noonan

(Limerick East): I thank Deputy Ahern for the manner in which he has raised this issue. It is clear he does not believe the report that Louth County Hospital will close but is right to seek clarification on the matter in the House.

I received a number of queries from Deputies arising from a newspaper article written before Christmas by a journalist, John Moore, who stated that hospitals around the country would close. There is no basis for that report. It came out of the blue and I do not know why it was written. Various quotations were attributed to me and while they were accurate they were taken from speeches and replies to parliamentary questions which I made in November and December but were presented in such a way as to suggest I had spoken to the journalist. I do not know why people write such things. The only kind remark I can make is that it might be motivated by a desire to qualify for the tax free status given to some artists. I understand one does not get it for writing fact but fiction. That is the only explanation I have for it.

As regards the basis for the reports, the one made in September emanated from a submission by the Irish Hospital Consultants to the Buckley Commission. Deputies will recall that the Gleeson Commission reviewed our pay and conditions and those of higher public servants.

Mr. D. Ahern

Not very well.

Mr. Noonan

(Limerick East): The Buckley Commission replaced the Gleeson Commission. In its submission the IHCA stated, according to a report in the Irish Independent on Friday 15 September, that the hospitals had not been properly funded over the years and in some cases the work rotas in place in areas such as surgery, obstetrics and anaesthetics were not as safe as they should be. This submission was made in support of a pay claim. That is what generated the publicity.

While I am Minister for Health I will not close or downgrade any hospital. I am making investments in many of the hospitals mentioned on the list and want to integrate them fully with the delivery of services in their areas. I hope that at the end of my period of office they will be sufficiently integrated that none of my successors will close them down.

We are talking here about a number of hospitals which I will list, otherwise we will have to deal with this matter on the Adjournment night after night and give assurances about hospitals around the country. They include Louth County Hospital, Dundalk; Our Lady's Hospital, Navan; St. Joseph's Hospital, Nenagh; Mallow General Hospital; St. Michael's Hospital, Dún Laoghaire; Naas General Hospital; St. Joseph's Hospital, Clonmel; Hume Street Hospital; Monaghan General Hospital; Portlaoise General Hospital; Ennis General Hospital; Roscommon General Hospital; St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown; Bantry General Hospital; Cashel General Hospital and The Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin. I made heavy investments in the case of at least one-third of those hospitals, and probably half of them. A 20 year aggravation in the Ceann Comhairle's town of Clonmel has been resolved and rather than close the hospital there a package costing £12.5 million is planned for Clonmel and Cashel.

Before Christmas a know-all who seems to write at will stated that these hospitals would be closed. I am aware of local concerns in that regard, but there was no truth in that report. As far back as 1993 the North-Eastern Health Board adopted a report, A New Direction For Acute Hospital Services, which effectively ruled out the closure of any of the board's four acute hospitals. It called for new arrangements to ensure that Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda became an integral part of the region's network. The report's clear recommendation was that the hospitals in the area would no longer act as individual units but would become component parts of the regional service. To achieve this the board established two hospital groupings, the Cavan-Monaghan group and the Louth-Meath group, of which Louth County Hospital forms part. Within that group there is a unique partnership between the voluntary and public hospital sectors which work together to provide a comprehensive service for the 200,000 people of Louth and Meath.

As evidence of my commitment to the board's strategy for the development of acute hospital services within its region, substantial funding has been made available in the past two years for the two hospital groups. Development funding provided in 1995 for the Louth-Meath group was aimed specifically at developments in anaesthetics, paediatrics, neonatology and geriatric services. During that year I approved six consultant posts for these specialties and understand they will be in place shortly. I approved a £1 million capital development grant for Louth County Hospital which I announced during a visit to the hospital in August 1995. That sum is aimed at providing the necessary infrastructural support for the new consultant posts. That substantial capital investment will facilitate the hospital to continue to play a pivotal role within the region and is further evidence of my commitment to that aim.

The report in the Sunday Independent before Christmas was fiction. There was no basis for it either in the Department of Health or at health board level. I have received much correspondence from Deputies asking me to meet hospital action committees although we have enough real issues about which to be concerned. To have to be concerned about the creative writing of a journalist is very unfortunate. The hospitals involved are valued by the people but such an article in a newspaper constitutes a threat to them. I give a categoric assurance that there is no basis for the report and there will be no downgrading or closures of any of the hospitals mentioned or any other hospital.