Michael Woods (Dublin North East, Fianna Fail)

I want to support the Minister as regards what she has said. I have the privilege of coming from the north side and this is my local hospital. We must remove any doubt about the position now, as the Minister has suggested. We must proceed right away with the plans for Beaumont. There should not be any further delay. Already there has been 25 years of delay on this issue in Beaumont Hospital. In 1982, I was Minister for Health, when Jervis Street and the Richmond, St. Laurence's, combined to go into Beaumont Hospital. It was a very big change and a major development. At that time a site was made available on the hospital grounds for a new private hospital so that consultants could be located in and beside Beaumont all the time. This meant people would not have to cross the river and go out the other side to the Blackrock Clinic to get a consultant. All that was ready, the hospital was built, heated, equipped and ready to go. Then, this very argument was raised. The Government changed and in came Fine Gael and Labour who tore up the agreement that was there. The outcome of that was we now have 108 beds in the public hospital reserved for the private work of consultants.

That was the outcome of the delay at that time. There is always a danger in delay. The result was that the hospital actually sat idle for over four years. It was one of the greatest scandals ever in the history of the State and nobody every talks about that. A brand new hospital was left idle for over four years. The people on the north side of Dublin suffered and continue to suffer because of that, not those from Galway or people from the south side or anywhere else. Again and again we hear from the Opposition that there should be more beds, and that we do not have enough of them. It is very hypocritical and I find it hard to keep my patience when I hear people from Fine Gael and Labour saying things such as that about Beaumont Hospital. I do not know where they are living or what they are thinking of, because Beaumont Hospital already has purchased St. Joseph's Hospital in Raheny where it is building a massive community development. We do not have to wait for this in the future. It is happening now and it will be a major focal point attached to Beaumont Hospital.

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