Adjournment Debate.

Garda Stations.

Mr. O’Donovan

I compliment the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, and his predecessor, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, on the excellent work done in my constituency in recent years. Cork South-West has the second lowest crime rate in Ireland. Last year, the Minister opened a brand new €12.5 million Garda station in Bantry, a new station is being built in Schull — a hobby horse of mine for a long time — major refurbishment has taken place at Castletownbere Garda station and we have a new Garda headquarters in Bandon.

In Dunmanway, the six gardaí stationed in the town are housed in a building rented by the Office of Public Works to facilitate gardaí in carrying out their duties. The old station in Dunmanway is almost derelict and has experienced problems for a number of years. A debate is taking place on whether it should be refurbished. Approximately six years ago, while a Senator, I received a letter gleefully announcing that the station would be refurbished and that a sum of around €160,000 had been allocated for this purpose. Subsequently a problem arose concerning access and a legal wrangle which has dragged on for many years ensued.

The community in Dunmanway is irate and the town's gardaí are not happy that they are housed in temporary accommodation without cell facilities. In the event that a prisoner must be kept overnight, he or she must be brought by gardaí to Bandon or Clonakilty. The community which the Garda supports is concerned about the unprecedented delay in either refurbishing the old station or providing a new station. When a greenfield site across the road from the old barracks was put up for sale many people believed it should have been purchased and a new station built thereon.

It is clear that action is needed regarding the Garda station in Dunmanway. The Garda Representative Association is angry — the word "militant" may be too strong — that its members are using a substandard station with the result that the community they serve in the Dunmanway area is not receiving the service it deserves. This issue has been a hobby horse of mine and I have discussed it repeatedly with the relevant Ministers, including the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, and officials from the Office of Public Works. I hope urgent action will be taken to provide the facilities the gardaí and members of the community in Dunmanway deserve.

I have put the problem in a nutshell and hope the Minister will be able to clarify the current position for me and people in west Cork. The community in the Dunmanway area is law abiding but there is a considerable anger that a commitment given many years ago either to build a new Garda station or refurbish the old one has not been acted on. With these few brief words, I rest my case in the hope that moneys will be provided to refurbish the old Garda station and a resolution will be found to legal difficulties, primarily concerning a right of access to the rear of the Garda station.

Minister for Education and Science (Ms Hanafin)

I thank Deputy Donovan for raising this issue and affording me the opportunity to explain the position regarding Dunmanway Garda station. I am responding on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell. The Minister visited the station in October 2005 on foot of the Deputy's request and made contact with local gardaí in the temporary station. The Minister was shown the old station, which had been vacated for some time, and it was abundantly clear that major works are required.

In order for the building works to proceed, the Office of Public Works must purchase land at the rear of the station. The Chief State Solicitor's office is acting for the board in this matter. I understand financial terms have been agreed with the vendors and that the legal process is finally nearing conclusion, with key title documents to be produced by the vendors' solicitor to permit the transaction to go through. The matter is being dealt with at a most senior level in the Chief State Solicitor's office.

The Minister welcomes these developments and looks forward to the commencement of the building works. Everyone is deeply frustrated with the pace of progress in this matter, but I assure the Deputy that everything that can be done is being done to bring the matter to finality. As a contingency, the Office of Public Works advertised recently for the purchase of a new site for the station. I hope it will not be necessary to invoke this contingency.

The building works will commence as soon as possible after conclusion of the legal formalities. The Office of Public Works has advanced matters as far as possible and will be ready to start work within a matter of weeks of the closure of the sale. A detailed brief of requirements has been prepared by the Garda Síochána and a sketch scheme has been prepared by the Office of Public Works and approved by Garda management. The Garda representative bodies were consulted at each step of the process.

The last time the Minister spoke on an Adjournment debate on this matter, he indicated that he would look at the roles of the various parties in the Garda building programme to streamline processes wherever possible. Since then, the introduction of various sections of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 has enabled this restructuring to take place. The Garda Commissioner has, since 14 July last, been made Accounting Officer for the Garda Vote. Accordingly, appropriate administrative procedures have been put in place to enable direct communications and business to be carried out between the Office of Public Works and the Garda authorities without the need to channel such communications through the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. In addition, as part of the major civilianisation drive for the force, a new civilian accommodation manager with the requisite skills in this area has been appointed.

While the delays in Dunmanway have been protracted, this should not detract from the overall investment in the Garda building programme. Between 2005 and the end of this year, the Office of Public Works will spend €112 million on the Garda building programme. Under the National Development Plan 2007-2013, funding of €260 million is provided towards refurbishment of Garda premises and is included in the capital provisions of the Office of Public Works. This capital funding is in addition to the Garda budget, which across all areas for 2007 is more than €1.4 billion, an 11% increase on 2006.

In addition, the Garda building maintenance budget has been increased this year by €2.1 million to €8.36 million. A major refurbishment and replacement programme of Garda accommodation is under way. Throughout the State, stations large and small that are in most need of attention are prioritised and proactively replaced or renovated under a range of different schemes. These are unprecedented levels of funding and are making a lasting impact.

I assure the Deputy that the matter is receiving attention at the highest level both within the Office of Public Works and the Chief State Solicitor's office to bring it to a successful conclusion.

Hospital Services.

Ms Burton

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue. I was disturbed and shocked to learn that the waiting list in the urology unit at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, now exceeds two years and that the unit plans to close its doors to all but emergency cases. This is a shocking state of affairs. It is of particular concern at a time when such prominence is given to men's health and the provision of health services for men through public advertising to encourage them to avail of regular screening for the detection of prostate cancer.

On the one hand, the HSE is encouraging men to seek early diagnosis and assistance through screening programmes. On the other hand, however, those men who need to avail of urology services at Connolly Hospital will find it is unable to cope with the extra demand. The Taoiseach said today that there is an easy solution to such problems because those with private health insurance will be able to avail of new private hospital facilities. Under the Fianna Fáil model of health provision, it seems patients will be instructed to turn one way for the public service, only to find no service is available, and the other for private hospital services, if they are appropriately insured.

Patients in Dublin 15 will have to go elsewhere for urology services, most likely to the Mater or Beaumont. Last year, there were 1,200 trips by inpatients in Blanchardstown to Beaumont and the Mater for diagnosis and screening, including MRI and CT scans, at an average cost per patient of more than €400. It seems the same will now happen with urology services. The round trip to the Mater from Blanchardstown, assuming that the traffic is relatively good, is at least two hours. This does not take into account the time spent at the hospital.

This situation underlines yet again the Government's lack of commitment to the long-term development of Connolly Hospital. The sole policy in regard to the hospital seems to be to promote the development of a private hospital by selling or leasing off some of the grounds of the public hospital. While I was Minister of State in the rainbow coalition, €72 million was set aside in 1996 for Connolly Hospital and left as a dowry to the incoming Government. Ten years later, however, only phase 1 has been developed. Phase 2 was commenced only because the general election is on its way. The hospital does not even have a CT or MRI scanner even though it serves a very large population across the Dublin 15 area, Cabra, Finglas and a significant part of Meath.

The long-serving and hard-working staff in Connolly Hospital provide excellent care to patients but it is difficult to see how they will not be demoralised. Although several additional consultants have been appointed, they lack the facilities and equipment to do their job. The hospital has put forward a request for additional urology consultants to be appointed but nothing has been done so far.

I raise this as a matter of urgency. As with education and policing, as far as this Government is concerned, Dublin West is far down the list of priorities. Connolly Hospital seems to be further down the list than most issues.

Ms Hanafin

I will take this Adjournment matter on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. Services at Connolly Hospital are provided by the Health Service Executive. The hospital is one of three providers of adult urology services on the north side of the city, the others being Beaumont and the Mater.

The HSE has advised that the current urology service at Connolly Hospital is provided by one consultant urologist with a four session commitment each week. It further advises that all emergency and follow-up outpatient services are provided. Urgent prostate referrals are seen within one to two weeks. Due to an increase in clinical workload, no routine first-visit outpatient appointments are being allocated at present. The HSE will ensure there is no interruption to urgent urology services and that any reduction in routine services will be in the short term only.

The Department of Health and Children is advised that in light of these urology service pressures, Connolly Hospital plans, in conjunction with Beaumont Hospital, to recruit an additional consultant urologist. The intention is to provide the service by way of locum cover pending the filling of the post on a permanent basis. The Department is advised by the HSE that the necessary funding is available for this post and that it is expected to be filled within a matter of months.

Mr. O’Dowd

There has been systematic neglect of the acute hospital system in the north east. Louth County Hospital and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital are under extreme pressure for funding and staff. One year ago, Chris Lyons, hospitals network manager for the north east, said there was inadequate support in the budget for the increase in service demands experienced in 2005 and 2006. Grave concern has been expressed by local managers in this regard. There is unparalleled growth in the region's population, which increased by 13% since 1996. There is the possibility of significant closures of services, major patient safety issues, increased clinical risk and longer waiting lists. What did the HSE decide in its wisdom? It decided, because of its budgetary cutbacks, that with immediate effect all pending and new development posts would be put on hold in order to bring a reduction in recruitment costs of approximately €100,000. Patrick Kinder, head of the maternity services taskforce, wrote about Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in October last year. He said a serious risk obtained in the maternity unit there due to the increased levels of overtime, that the working of overtime at the levels indicated was not sustainable for any length of time and there was a critical need to review the recruitment process to avoid unnecessary delays in filling posts.

An advertisement from the HSE will appear in tomorrow's newspapers seeking to fill 25 new midwifery posts approved for the hospital, but the reality is these posts were needed a year ago. Due to lack of funding from the Government, the hospital is in a state of crisis. It is unacceptable that expectant mothers must wait for up to 20 weeks for their first appointment with their consultant. This is a shame and an utter disgrace. I call on the HSE and the Minister to publish the correspondence on the matter, particularly that between Mr. Patrick Kinder and the HSE.

The number of unfunded posts in the northern area HSE was 322, or 9% of all of those employed, in April 2006. Some 92% of the unfunded staff are employed in frontline services. The accident and emergency unit in Drogheda currently has 30 unfunded posts. The advertisement in tomorrow's newspapers states that a new 25-bay emergency department in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital will be up and running in early 2008.

The facts, as illustrated by the response I received to a freedom of information request, show that the accident and emergency unit was due to commence in autumn 2006 and be ready in 2007 and that any delay in that schedule would compromise patient safety based on the known risks. The accident and emergency unit in the hospital at that time was overrun and it was essential the new unit would begin as soon as possible to ensure continuity of services.

We have a HSE in crisis, a hospital system which is totally underfunded and problems with regard to anaesthetists in the hospital. Advertisements for three new anaesthetist posts have been placed, but these probably will not be filled for six months. These are serious issues of concern. I call on the Minister and the HSE to publish the truth about the issues surrounding anaesthetists in the hospital.

I am also deeply concerned about cancer care. Patients should and are entitled to receive chemotherapy in the hospital. However, I know a patient who had to travel from Drogheda by taxi to a Dublin hospital yesterday and return in the evening only to have to get up again at 6 a.m. this morning to get to the hospital by 8 a.m. for another session of chemotherapy.

The acute hospital system is in crisis, but the Government is doing nothing about it. We do not accept the Minister deserves to be in office. She should be run out of office for the shameful way in which she runs Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and the Louth County Hospital. There is no excuse for the situation. Never was there so much money available in the country to look after our sick and elderly, but never did a Government do so little. Never were administrators, nurses, midwives and consultants so up in arms over the lack of funding and resources. They are entitled to these resources because of population increases in the region.

The Minister stands condemned in the court of public opinion. She has run these hospitals into the ground. It appears from what the Taoiseach said today with regard to not being able to keep hospitals open, that all the Minister seems to have on her mind is the closure of acute hospitals in the north east.

Ms Hanafin

I will take this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children.

Both the Government and the Health Service Executive are committed to continuing to improve and expand services at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Louth County Hospital in the short and medium term. In the longer term, a new state-of-the-art regional hospital will be built in the north east.

Over the past five years, the level of revenue funding allocated to both Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Louth County Hospital has increased significantly. The current revenue funding for Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital has increased from €36 million to €115 million, an increase of 219%, and in the case of Louth County Hospital, from €10 million to €28 million, an increase of 180%. Over the same period, staffing numbers across the two hospitals have increased by 225.

In the case of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, a new three-storey development approved by the HSE is scheduled to be fully completed by April 2009. This development will allow for a 25-bed accident and emergency assessment area and a further two floors will be utilised to provide some additional facilities and space for critical care, general medicine and general surgical departments. The 25-bay accident and emergency facility is scheduled by the HSE to be fully operational by April of next year.

With regard to maternity services at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, the HSE has advised that it has approved 22 new midwife posts and two specialist nurse posts as well as three new consultant anaesthetist posts. The HSE will continue to monitor staffing levels within the maternity services unit at the hospital relative to demand.

Urgent care facilities will be developed at Dundalk. It is intended when the new regional hospital is established, that Louth County Hospital will retain this urgent care service providing a significant service to a large proportion of patients from Dundalk. Extensive electrical work has been carried out at the hospital to facilitate the installation of a new CT scanner which will be operational next month. Two new modular theatres are also due to open next month. Investment in Louth County Hospital will continue in order to provide the best and most appropriate service to the people of the area.

Since October 2005, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Louth County Hospital have been managed under a single general management structure. These close working arrangements have facilitated a reduction in patient waiting times and have resulted in improved care and clinical outcomes for patients. In advance of the development of the new regional hospital, ambulance and emergency services will be developed to a high standard in the north east. This will include the training of advanced paramedics and nurse practitioners.

It should be emphasised that the HSE has given the Minister for Health and Children an assurance that in progressing the reorganisation of services in the north east, there will be no discontinuation of existing services until suitable alternative arrangements have been put in place.

Schools Building Projects.

Mr. McEntee

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to speak on this issue and thank the Minister for Education and Science for her attendance. No doubt, like myself she is puzzled by what is involved. That said, nobody is more puzzled than the people of Laytown and Bettystown by what has taken place over the past two years with regard to this issue. I am only two years in politics and one of the first issues that came to my attention was the announcement of a new school for Laytown during the by-election.

Last summer, all the politicians of the area were called together in the first week of August to discuss what would be done in September for the 75 or 80 children with no school to go to. Deputies put their party allegiances to the side and mounted a campaign together to remove objections. The teachers of both existing schools were put under pressure and children were finally allowed admission to school, although their classroom was in a gymnasium to which toilets were added at the side, but without lighting. All those involved, particularly parents, then set out to find a solution to the problem.

On 6 October 2006, the Minister announced that a site for a new school had been secured. It was confirmed that officials from the Department had concluded a deal to purchase a school campus site for Laytown. Everybody hoped everything would go well, but last week it transpired the Department had applied for planning permission for a site it did not own. It had never even asked the owner of the land in question whether it could apply for planning permission for that site.

The Minister has stated that despite the announcement in 2006 that lands had been purchased, the purchase did not happen. Six months after the Department's announcement, it emerged the sale of the four-acre site for the school had not been completed. In a statement, the Minister for Education and Science admitted to difficulties with regard to the land for the temporary school.

I am not raising this matter for my benefit but on behalf of parents. I want to know what is going on. Who got us into this mess? How could the Department apply for planning permission for lands it did not own without the permission of the landowner? How could the Department say it had concluded a deal, but six months later say no deal was completed? The authority has been given the go-ahead to apply for planning permission on another site. Have those lands been bought? Is there a deal on the Minister's table that has not been signed since last October? A total of 107 children in Laytown and Bettystown will have nowhere to go next September. What has gone wrong? What are the plans for the future? Can we be given a guarantee that if there is a contract on the table and planning permission is granted, as everybody hopes, the Department will build a temporary school for these children to attend in September?

These people are well-educated. They do not want to see any politician, me included, any more. They believe nobody. I put aside my allegiance to my party and worked with the Minister's party colleague night after night to remove objections to the development. The Department was responsible for building the school. The Minister announced that a deal had been done but it has not been done.

The teachers, Maurice Daly and MaryCarpenter, were under serious pressure to get those children into the gym. The school of 600 had no room to move all winter but they succeeded. It was for the Department to set matters right. I know plans can run into difficulty and how hard the Department officials in Tullamore work. They have been courteous to everybody. We know that 2,300 classrooms need to be built. These people want to know what to plan for and where they are going. If planning permission is granted, for which the Department has applied, will the contracts be signed? Will the contracts which the Taoiseach announced on a visit a couple of weeks ago when he spoke of 1,000 new post-primary places for Laytown, be fulfilled? There is no site. The Department applied for planning permission on a site that it did not own. This put the livelihood of a local businessman, his wife and three children in jeopardy as they were seen as black sheep. The Department owes that man an apology.

Ms Hanafin

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to reiterate the Government's commitment to delivering new schools for Laytown on schedule.

Prior to the 2005-06 school year there was only one primary school in the Laytown-Bettystown region, catering for children from junior infants to sixth class. Due to demand for increased school places, my Department sanctioned the provisional recognition of a second primary school, Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa, from 1 September 2005. We also agreed to a local proposal that the new school would be a junior school, catering for pupils from junior infants to second class, with the existing school, Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh, operating as a senior school catering for pupils from third to sixth class. Both schools are expected to grow to 24 classrooms.

Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa is housed in temporary accommodation on the campus of the senior school and has an enrolment for the 2006-07 school year of 181 pupils. The Department is working at a senior level with Meath County Council and the relevant authorities of the schools in Laytown to deal with the accommodation needs for September 2007 and onwards.

Meath County Council reserved a site of approximately 15.5 acres in the Laytown local area plan for educational provision. The land is owned by two individuals. In October 2006 I announced that departmental officials had agreed terms for the acquisition of the larger part of this site. My Department's relations with this landowner have been amicable and he has stated publicly that he is "very happy" with the deal agreed.

Terms were agreed for the purchase of the second smaller piece of land in December 2006. This second parcel was intended to be home to the temporary accommodation in the short term and then to provide access between the existing primary school and the permanent new school building. Difficulties have arisen, however, since the terms were originally agreed for this second piece of land, which could conceivably have delayed the provision of temporary accommodation. As a result my Department has now put a contingency plan in place.

This process involves a new planning application, lodged last Friday, for temporary accommodation for September 2007 on the much larger second parcel of land. The owner of this land has given his written consent to the planning application. Meath County Council has agreed that the planning application will be dealt with speedily, and provided we have a smooth run through the planning phase, we aim to start construction on the temporary school and temporary road in May. This will enable the primary school to open in September on this land and the permanent building for the school to be in place in September 2008.

The land in question is zoned for educational use. It is also of sufficient size to accommodate the new primary and post-primary schools. It should be noted that it is a condition laid down by Meath County Council that no further development can happen in this area until a primary school has been provided. The 16 classroom temporary school is sized to cater for the existing enrolment in Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa and its September 2007 intake. It will ensure that there are enough mainstream classes and ancillary accommodation to meet the school's needs until the new permanent building is available in September 2008.

The Department has appointed a firm of project managers to oversee and devise a masterplan for the project to provide an education campus for Laytown-Bettystown. The education campus will provide for a 24-classroom primary school and for a 1,000 pupil post-primary school, under the auspices of County Meath Vocational Education Committee and shared community and sports facilities. Meath County Council planning department approved the masterplan for the campus.

The new permanent 24-classroom junior school will be delivered under a design and build contract and the design and procurement phases of the programme are proceeding in tandem with the site acquisition. Departmental officials have briefed the two primary schools on the masterplan and project timescales.

I reiterate my commitment to ensuring that the new schools for Laytown are delivered on schedule and thank the Deputy for giving me this opportunity to outline the position on these.

The Dáil adjourned at 11.15 p.m. until10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 21 March 2007.

Dáil Éireann debate - Tuesday, 20 Mar 2007