Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the assessment of the Chair. Sometimes decisions are made and then people try to justify them. At a time when we are under such pressure in our health services, is this not a perfect facility and location for people? There is the issue of the lack of transport in rural Ireland. Some of the suggested alternatives are not really an option for people if they do not have their own transport. We know how difficult it is for people in rural communities to access public transport. Keeping services in local communities, particularly at a time when we are under serious pressure in our health facilities, is important.

It is disingenuous of the HSE to talk about St. Brigid's Hospital being unfit for purpose because of the distance between beds in the five-bed wards when there are trolleys in hospital corridors. That must present health and safety issues. What work was done to see about bringing hospital up to standard and making it fit for purpose if that was seen as such and issue? There were other issues regarding the narrowness of the hallway and the extension. Surely when we have an existing building we should try to use it and do whatever necessary to bring it up to standard.

The report and briefing dated 30 July 2020 noted there remained a critical requirement for staff elsewhere in community healthcare services at the time. This feeds into the narrative that it was closed because of a decision taken higher up and now the witnesses are here to justify it for those people. Were staff needed elsewhere? If that was the case, it would be unfair because this facility was up and running and the staff should have been left where they were. Over Christmas, when it was announced on one day that 350 people were waiting on trolleys there was almost celebration because we did not have almost 1,000 people on trolleys. We are under serious pressure and if we can keep facilities like St. Brigid's Hospital in local areas, it would be invaluable to communities. I would go as far as to say facilities like this in local areas will save lives ultimately. We might not be seeing headline figures of that but I am certain people are falling through the cracks. There is no way the health services can be treating people adequately given the numbers waiting on trolleys in hospitals. I would strongly support going back to the drawing board and looking at how we can bring the hospital up to standard to keep it in the local community.