Mr. Philip McAnenly:

I will deal with Senator Burke's questions first. While it was reported in the media that a number of caveats were attached to the Mulchrone-Barry bid, the media did not carry any reports on the Centric Health bid, which was, I understand, made by two consultants. It was reported that the Mulchrone-Barry bid failed, inter alia, because it included too many caveats. It should not be unusual to find caveats attached to bids where a hospital is in the process of an orderly wind-down. This was not the liquidation of a factory, block of apartments, hotel or restaurant. The hospital was fully occupied on 24 January when the owner petitioned the High Court to liquidate the asset. I imagine that if any investors were buying a hospital which was almost fully occupied and fully operational, it would be normal to expect some caveats attached to any bids for the facility.
We have not had any discussions with the National Asset Management Agency. NAMA did not engage with us about the welfare or future of the employees or the timeframes under which it was funding the liquidation.
To respond to Deputy Ó Caoláin's question, it is not too late to rescue the hospital. The liquidator was appointed on 24 January and two thirds of the staff were made redundant on 31 January. The majority of the third remaining were made redundant on 7 February. Between 15 and 20 staff are decontaminating areas of the hospital where they are still employed. Few of these staff have been successful in securing an interview with a prospective employer, not to mention getting a job offer.
When one pays attention to the public media, it is clear that work could be transferred to the 130 beds. This would provide significant comfort to the public health service in terms of people who are ready to move from an acute hospital setting to a step-down type setting that would be more appropriate to their needs, including health care needs. Mount Carmel is ideally located and, with a little imagination and innovation, the hospital could be opened again very quickly.