Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 19 January 2023

Committee on Public Petitions

Public Petition on St. Brigid’s Hospital, Carrick-on-Suir: Save St. Brigid’s Action Group

Ms Susan Mullins:

I thank the Senator for giving us the opportunity to expand a little. We are so grateful to hear the feedback. It means an awful lot to us because no matter where people live in Carrick or what they do, St. Brigid’s and health transcends all of that. The loss of St. Brigid’s has massively distressed our community. I do not want to sound like I am exaggerating or being over the top but the immediate response of anybody you mention this to, be they old or young, is to say how terrible and awful it is. It is like a post-traumatic event. It is as if the rug was pulled from under us.

This was done under the guise of Covid-19, which was fair enough given the way things were with Covid, but there was no consultation process. The staff were traumatised. There were almost 30 staff members and they did not know where they were going to be sent. St. Brigid’s was originally supposed to be a step-down facility for people recovering from Covid-19, so it was perfectly fit for purpose in March 2020 for people recovering from Covid-19. Then, suddenly, it was not fit for purpose. These words are not in any HIQA report. We have not been able to find those words. The HIQA reports are glowing about the staff of St. Brigid’s, the patients’ experience and the families of the patients. Only very minor issues were raised and all of them could be overcome.

In a time of sustainability, when we hear about our planet and everything else, we are hearing talk of razing this facility to the ground because it is an old building. Everybody in the community of Carrick-on-Suir has put their hands in their pocket and done everything for St. Brigid’s. It is so loved and is like our little treasure in our town. Deputy Buckley spoke about Midleton. I imagine there are many places all over Ireland in this situation. With our ageing population, this is a perfect storm. Is the HSE living in cloud cuckoo land? Does it not look at statistics? Is it not asking what is going on?

I am talking from both an emotional and a practical point of view about the loss to our town. Mr. Torpey and I and the rest of the team were just talking about the loved and well-known characters and figures in Carrick who got cancer. One gentleman, in particular, who was loved in Carrick, had to go to Clogheen when he had cancer. That is quite a distance away and his wife has no private transport or car. It is just horrific trying to get him back so that he could die at home. This is only one family but it gives a glimpse into the pain.

Carrick is not a rich town.

It is a beautiful town and I love it. I am very proud of it. I love my home town but it is tough. It is not easy; we are the unloved child between Clonmel and Waterford, including politically. I always say that. Mr. Torpey has gone on a mission to discover who made these decisions and why were they made. We have done a great deal of research on HIQA reports and old reports. Mr. Torpey tried to get information and he will tell the committee all about that. His tenacity is incredible. He was using freedom of information requests and found these throwaway sound bites like "not fit for purpose" with no measurements or anything but Mr. Torpey will tell members about that. He is the technical person.

The town of Carrick and surrounding areas are in mourning. We are all grief-stricken. That is genuine. I am not a political person and I am not looking for anything. That is a glimpse or a screenshot of Carrick. There is a low, depressed air all around St. Brigid's hospital. St. Brigid's was so loved by our community. It was paid for by the local community, which is not wealthy. I will get emotional if I keep talking about it. It is very personal to everybody, as well as being extremely practical especially with the ageing population. It is more practical than ever. It has been there for 180 years, or whatever, and it is not going anywhere. We are talking about sustainability. We have it; it is there and we should use it.