Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The purpose of this Bill is to put beyond legal doubt the 19 bodies and the statutory bodies drafted and enacted by various Ministers to establish those bodies. Once legislation is passed we cannot amend those statutory instruments. The Minister's approval is required for Beaumont Hospital to lease land. Beaumont Hospital and St. James's Hospital are in a different position from the hospitals where the land is owned by the HSE. They do not have to undergo the same position as these two hospitals. Deputy Shatter acknowledged that there was no court decision to establish that these bodies are not legal. Once the doubt is raised by someone as powerful as the Attorney General and reinforced by independent advice, there is an obligation on me as Minister to take the advice. We want to proceed with the co-location proposals for Beaumont and St. James's. The boards of these hospitals are anxious to do so. Before the co-location policy was ever initiated, both of these institutions were developing plans for private hospitals on their grounds. Co-location is not being foisted on any hospital. Hospitals were free to either come forward with a proposal or not. As regards Galway, the reason it did not proceed is because there are an enormous number of private beds in the city, as Deputy McCormack knows, with the Bons Secours, Galway Clinic etc. There are a good many private beds in Galway.

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