Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I am told that it will now be at least another year before these units can be relocated to long-promised accommodation in the old hospital buildings. The apparent abandonment and long-fingering of phase two of the hospital is a disgrace and a betrayal, particularly of older people in the hospital's catchment area.

The Minister, Deputy Harney's only fresh idea concerning the health services has been to induce the construction industry to get involved in building private hospitals through increasing tax breaks. Labour fought a sustained campaign to get phase one opened and it looks as if we will have to get the banners out again to get phase two.

In a reply in the House last week, the Minister confessed that she had one meeting with the consultants, her private adviser and an official from the Department of Finance, followed by another meeting with the developer, Mr. Bernard McNamara, to discuss the notion of a private hospital on the public lands of Connolly Hospital.

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