Mr. Philip McAnenly:

In answer to the question as to why the hospital was not closed, I would ask why was the hospital not saved. There are very compelling and persuasive reasons as to why the hospital should have been saved along with the 482 jobs that have been lost. Only the catering jobs remain and these are currently in the conciliation services of the Labour Relations Commission.

There is a national public interest issue at stake. This is not about patients in one part of Dublin. I refer to the waiting lists in Letterkenny, Naas and Sligo hospitals as well as in larger Dublin hospitals which are struggling with well-documented capacity problems. These hospitals all obtained immediate relief when the HSE purchased 25 beds in Mount Carmel to relieve the overcrowding. Patients who no longer required acute hospital care and attention could be moved to Mount Carmel for the next phase of their care. The other concern of a public interest is the impact this is likely to have on the development of the already delayed national children's hospital. St. James's Hospital is on the record as stating that it needs the capacity at Mount Carmel Hospital to create the new site because adult beds would be lost in the creation of the new children's hospital. The decanting of adult beds to Mount Carmel would solve the problem for St. James's.

I ask what level of joined-up thinking took place across a number of Departments and publicly funded bodies such as NAMA, which should have had an interest in ensuring that almost 400 jobs were saved and that adults who cannot afford the private health system would be able to access immediate care and have their operations and procedures carried out promptly.

The HSE prioritised the most sick children and adults from its waiting lists to be treated in Mount Carmel Hospital. A total of 1,100 patients had their procedures completed and they would require further outpatient care but they must return to an overcrowded, overburdened public health system that cannot cope with them. The only reason they were treated in Mount Carmel Hospital was because the public health system could not look after them.

Deputy Ó Caoláin asked about the input of the HSE and the Department of Health. The level of co-ordination between HSE and the Department and the board of St. James's Hospital is worthy of further examination. I am not sure if there was liaison between the board of St. James's Hospital and the Minister's office but I believe there should have been with regard to the potential risk to a number of patients on public waiting lists. A number of elderly, confused patients were immediately transferred into the 25 contracted beds. They were transitioned from Beaumont and Tallaght hospitals into Mount Carmel Hospital, with a consequent aggravation of their confused state.

They were then transitioned out of the hospital. That all took place within two to three weeks. The trauma families suffered as a result of that did not seem to be considered in the decision to liquidate the hospital.

The price value of the asset, on which the Deputy also touched, is very important. We believe NAMA should have an interest other than simply considering the price value of the asset. The issue here was much broader than that. Without going over ground that has already been covered, the issues are the same as those on which we have already touched.

The type of work that was being carried out at Mount Carmel dispels the myth that it was a private maternity hospital. A full range of general surgery was being carried out there, including orthopaedic surgery, ear, nose and throat work, general surgery and paediatric work. As per the figures in my submission, 2,300 patients were booked off the HSE public list and 1,100 patients had already had their procedures done. That was for part of the year; in a 12-month period those numbers would possibly have been significantly higher. As the HSE may have taken a greater interest in this hospital, the numbers would have significantly increased as well, which would have done a great service to the public patients in the public health service.

Of the 328 staff, 205 are nurses and midwives, and a small number of the 205 are midwives.