Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to return to the issue of Hollybrook community nursing unit in Inchicore. When local people telephone me asking why people living in the area cannot access the unit, I have to tell them it is a step-down unit for St. James’s Hospital to facilitate the national children’s hospital. When this unit was first opened, I stood on a platform as a local public representative telling people the facility would be used for people living locally. I welcome the fact the children’s hospital will be located at the St. James’s Hospital site. However, the Hollybrook facility was to provide new beds for the local area. This did not happen. It has left me in a very vulnerable position as a public representative locally. I attended all of the meetings for the planning application for the Hollybrook facility.

I have been promised numerous times at this committee that Hollybrook will return to being a nursing home care unit for respite but it has not. I want an answer on this because I cannot tell people lies. I am obliged as a public representative to tell them the truth when they come into my office and ask me why they cannot get an elderly person living in Inchicore into Hollybrook for respite care, even for a week, when it is on their doorstep. It is not acceptable they are told to go somewhere else. I will keep on bringing up this issue until Hollybrook returns to its original designation as a nursing home, not a unit to facilitate St. James’s Hospital.