asked the Minister for Health the up-to-date position on the planning and financing of the approved maternity unit for Nenagh County Hospital, County Tipperary.
Written Answers. - Nenagh (Tipperary) Hospital.
604.
Formal approval for the provision of a consultant staffed maternity unit at the General Hospital, Nenagh was given in October 1980. A project team representative of my Department and the MidWestern Health Board was established to prepare a planning brief for the development. The brief which encompasses a 30-bed obstetric unit, a 10-bed gynaecology unit, a 10-bed special care baby unit and the necessary support services has now been completed and is at present being examined by my Department.
The next stage of the development involves the appointment of a design team to prepare a development control plan. The capital allocation for my Department in the current year did not make any provision for the cost of this stage of the development and in the present financial climate I am unable to say when I will be in a position to allow the planning process of this maternity unit to proceed.
I will however keep the situation under review.