asked the Minister for Health what steps have been taken by Mayo County Council to have the second hospital at Belmullet made available for patients.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Mayo Hospital.
10.
Mr. J. Lenehan
Presumably the Deputy is referring to the former fever hospital at Belmullet. My Department has been in correspondence recently with the Mayo County Council regarding the possibility of using this institution for the care of geriatric patients. At present one half of the building is devoted to medical uses, i.e. dispensary and dental and other clinics. The other half of the building is being used by the assistant county engineer and as a temporary courthouse on one day each month. I understand from the county council that the vacation of the premises by the existing users is not feasible pending the erection of new local authority buildings. Negotiations are in progress for the acquisition of a site for these new buildings.
Mr. J. Lenehan
Is the Minister aware that the local assistant county engineer in Belmullet is perpetually in hospital and that the district justice for the area is also in hospital because it is in hospital that they have their administrative headquarters? In all fairness— I am not making a speech—I think the Minister must admit that is not the place to have them. There is no question of difficulty as regards solving this problem as a "prefab" office can be provided for the engineers and there is ample accommodation for the local district justice, for all the law we have in Belmullet. I ask the Minister now to take the necessary steps to have this hospital reopened.
That is a matter for Mayo County Council.