Vol. 505 No. 6
12 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach if applicants who have the potential to obtain financial support from other agencies have been ruled out for consideration by the sub-committee evaluating applications for funding from the Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust fund; if Leopardstown Park Hospital has been considered to be among these applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14162/99]
On Tuesday last, I informed the House that the projects to receive funding under the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust Act, 1988, had been agreed. This followed an assessment process undertaken by an interdepartmental committee which was established to evaluate all the proposals submitted.
The Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust Act, 1988, provides for the acceptance and disposal, on behalf of the Irish Government, of money received from the trust. The Act provides that the money be disposed of for the purposes of projects or undertakings, including the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, involving co-operation between the State and Northern Ireland or the State and Britain or relating to the island of Ireland as a whole.
In November last year, my Department placed advertisements in the national press, the Northern Irish newspapers and the Irish Post in Britain, inviting applications for funding in respect of projects which would promote mutual understanding and reconciliation between Britain and Ireland or between the State and Northern Ireland; sustain and develop ventures and/or activities on an island of Ireland basis or relating to the island of Ireland or promote the welfare of the Irish community in Britain.
In assessing submissions, priority was given to organisations which would have difficulty obtaining commercial sponsorship or where the organisation or proposal would not normally or readily be funded by other Departments, statutory agencies or other public authorities, by reference to functions discharged or services provided. Furthermore, because of the relative availability of funding from other sources for North-South co-operation, priority was accorded to projects or undertakings between the State and Britain and relating to the island of Ireland as a whole.
All 175 submissions received were considered on the merits of their proposals and none, regardless of their funding structure, were precluded from consideration. The task of assessing the submissions was difficult. I am satisfied with the assessment committee's recommendations and I am happy that we are now in a position to provide much needed assistance to 59 worthwhile projects.
I compliment the person who drafted that wonderful parliamentary reply which successfully avoids answering the question I asked. Will the Leopardstown Park Hospital, set up to cater for people wounded in the two world wars, Irish citizens in the main, receive funding?
The reply endeavours to outline the type of projects which can be funded. The application made by Leopardstown Park Hospital was considered by the assessment committee which did not recommend that money be provided from the fund for a number of reasons. Hospitals are normally funded by the Department of Health and Children and health boards, as appropriate, as they are best placed to assess priorities among health institutions.
Specific reference is not made to retired veterans in the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust Act and funding can only be provided for the purposes of such projects or undertakings, including the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which involve co-operation between the State and Northern Ireland or the State and Great Britain or relating to the island of Ireland as a whole. These aspects of the hospital's application did not stand up to scrutiny and that is why the project was ruled out.
Will the Taoiseach agree it appears extraordinary that a hospital specifically set up to cater for the victims of two world wars, in which Irish men and women fought or participated, is being denied money from a fund called the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust—
Hear, hear.
—on the basis that they might get money from the Minister Deputy Cowen? Is that the logic of the Taoiseach's reply?
That is it.
If that is the logic, will the Taoiseach give an undertaking that the Department of Health will make moneys available to enable this hospital complete its development plans as a way of compensating for arbitrarily ruling it out of qualification when perhaps it is the most uniquely qualified body to benefit from this fund?
There are a number of replies to that question. First, I received representations over a long period about Leopardstown Park Hospital from Deputy Quinn, Deputy Bruton – certainly members of Deputy Bruton's party – and other Deputies and I have followed those up with the Department of Health and Children to see what the Minister can do in terms of the application.
Does that mean it will get extra money?
The Deputy will have to ask the Minister for Health and Children, who will decide that. He is aware of the need for it. Second, in assessing the submissions the considered view of the committee was that it was not covered by the legislation. I did not interfere with the applications but because I received a number of calls from Leopardstown Park Hospital and some other areas I asked that the areas on which I received representation be carefully examined. The considered view of the committee was that it did not come under the legislation. Even if it did, it would have taken all the money that was available, but that was not the reason the committee rejected it. I am well aware of Leopardstown Park Hospital and I will do what I can to assist it in terms of the money it requires.
Will the Taoiseach consider that the criteria which ruled out veterans from benefiting from aid from the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust has to be wrong? Will he agree that the British Legion, for example, which represents Irish people, North and South, who fought against Nazism in the last war, many of whom were injured permanently in the battle for freedom, constitutes a genuine North-South interest and a genuine reconciling force between the two traditions on this island in the sense that people from both traditions gave their lives in this struggle against Nazism? Will he agree it is wrong that we should pass legislation to dispose of assets created originally to house veterans, that it is wrong to pass legislation which, when the lands in question come to be disposed of, would disbar the same veterans from benefiting?
There are two aspects to that question. First, the amount of money the hospital needs would take up the full fund.
I am not just asking about the hospital; veterans have other welfare needs also.
Perhaps they have, but some of the areas into which money was put are not unhelpful to those causes that deal with the elderly and homelessness. In the interpretation of the legislation by the assessing committee - which I did not interfere with, because if I interfered with the applications there would be another argument - it was decided unanimously that this was not covered by the legislation. I could interfere but I would be in trouble with the House for interfering with a committee.
The Taoiseach is not answering the question.
The committee has made its decisions and the Taoiseach has said he will not interfere. I understand that position but I do not necessarily agree with it. Does the Taoiseach agree that this hospital is unique in that it was specifically established to deal with war injuries suffered by Irish people who fought in that war? Does he also agree that people are still suffering from the effects of their participation, particularly in World War II? Would he further agree that this is a unique hospital which cannot be treated in the same way as every other medical facility on the waiting list for capital grants?
Having been arbitrarily debarred from consideration for this fund, will the Taoiseach give an undertaking that the next Estimates for capital spending on health will give specific recognition to the unique role of this hospital, contrary to the manner in which it was excluded from the beneficiary list for these funds?
I note what the Deputy said but he is aware that I cannot give him a definite reply. I raised this issue with the Department of Health and Children and the Minister will look at it sympathetically. This is clearly a different hospital. However, based on what I was told on my last visit I do not believe that many of the patients had much connection with World War II. I accept this is a unique hospital which requires assistance.
