Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am familiar with this situation because the hospital is in my constituency. As Deputy Buckley said, some facilities are archaic and there has been no investment in them. The local community has raised a massive amount of money over the years and was willing to do so again. I suggest that after we get a response from Mr. Dunne, we bring in representatives of the HSE to discuss this matter. The committee asked for an engineer's report but it is not clear from any of the correspondence which report is being used as a basis for closing down the facility. Promises were made on the floor of the Dáil about St. Brigid's Hospital opening up. I totally agree that Covid-19 has been used to start closing down a lot of these facilities. I agree with Deputy Buckley that we should await Mr. Dunne's response but we should also consider asking the HSE to produce the report that was used to close the hospital down. I know the hospital and as far as I am concerned, there is no great difference between it and other places that remain open. In fact, it is in much better condition than most hospitals. We will send the HSE reply to Mr. Dunne and ask him to respond but we should keep an open mind about inviting the HSE and the Minister to appear before us, if needs be. Is that agreed?