Vol. 232 No. 11
asked the Minister for Health if, having regard to the fire hazard in the existing boiler house at St. Kevin's Hospital, Dublin by reason of the necessary storage of turf near the boiler and the increased hazard which will be caused if the authority is required by him to install new turf using boilers in the existing inadequate accommodation, he will now sanction the building of a new boiler house to accommodate new oil burning boilers.
54.
asked the Minister for Health if he is aware of the vulnerability of St. Kevin's Hospital in the matter of heating by reason of having only one functioning boiler at present; and if he will therefore sanction the immediate installation of new boilers to meet the hospital's needs.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 53 and 54 together.
In so far as the question of boiler installations for provision of heating for St. Kevin's Hospital is concerned, I am advised that it is not correct to say that St. Kevin's Hospital relies on one functioning boiler. I understand that there is a number of different boilerhouse installations, each dealing with different groupings of buildings. It is possible that the Deputy has in mind the boilerhouse adjoining the laundry building in the north-eastern corner of the site. This boilerhouse provides heating services for Hospitals Two, Three and Six, for the office block and board room building and for the Convent building.
In March 1967 the health authority made representations in regard to the need to install two new boilers in that boilerhouse and proposed to use oil as fuel. They were informed last May that because of policy considerations it was not possible to agree for the present to the proposal to oil fire the boilers but that no objection would be raised to the installation of two new boilers in the existing boilerhouse for turf firing and to the carrying out of necessary incidental works and the replacement of defective pipelines.
I am advised that it is the standard practice with hand-fired installations to accommodate the fuel in proximity to the boilers to facilitate firing, and that no significant fire hazard is involved because of this. This has been the practice in the boilerhouse above mentioned throughout the years and also in the case of similar installations generally throughout the country where full-scale mechanical handling and firing is not provided for. I understand that, if the new boilers are installed in appropriate locations in the boilerhouse referred to, it should be possible to provide for improved storage arrangements. If the health authority proceeds on the basis of turf firing, it should be possible to complete any remaining planning work in a matter of weeks. It has already been explained to the health authority that it is Government policy in the national interest to ensure that to the utmost practicable extent, native fuels are to be used in preference to any other fuel in local authority institutions and other institutions supported by State funds.
55.
asked the Minister for Health the hospitals which within the last five years were permitted to change from turf to other fuels for their boilers; and the reasons for, and savings resulting from, such changes.
Approval was given to proposals by hospital authorities to change from turf to other fuels in 14 instances after consultation with Bord na Móna. The considerations on which decisions are taken as to the nature of the fuel to be used are usually related to site conditions, size of the institution and nature of the services being provided. In a substantial number of the cases where a change was made the question arose during 1966 when the turf supply situation was less favourable than it is at present. In the majority of these cases the decision not to insist on the use of turf related to new installations or to installations of a very greatly increased capacity, and the question of reducing turf consumption did not arise.
The majority of the installations for which exemptions were granted in recent years are not yet in operation and it is not possible to give an estimate of any savings which may result from the use of oil. The Deputy will be aware, however, that there are other considerations to be taken into account from the over-all national point of view, such as the question of imports and balance of payments and the employment afforded through the policy of utilising native resources to the maximum possible extent.
Is it Government policy now to change from native fuel to foreign fuel?
I beg your pardon?
Is it Government policy now to recommend or to sanction changing from the use of native fuel, turf, to oil, which is a foreign fuel, especially in view of the fact that we have plenty of bog and men — should we say bogmen — in the country to make the turf available and have the turf available? Surely we should encourage its use?
I made that clear in the answer to the last two questions.
Sanction has been given in other institutions throughout the country and indeed certain sections of the Minister's Department are inclined to recommend that oil is better and cleaner to use, and many of us on public bodies have had to put up fights in the past to get turf used in these boilers.
I was under the impression that the object of the question was to suggest that oil should be used instead of turf in Dublin hospitals. This was repeated over the past couple of days. I am quite sure the Minister would agree that because the facilities for burning turf are already there, because turf gives very much-needed employment and represents a saving to the State because many of the people who are employed in producing turf might in fact be unemployed if they were not employed on this work, that it is essential that native fuel be used as far as possible. The Minister said that.
I did indeed, and I made it clear in the reply to these questions that in any instance where any other fuel was allowed, this was done only after consultation with Bord na Móna.
