Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue affecting the Louth-East Meath constituency. The threat to close St Joseph's Hospital, Ardee, and the Cottage Hospital, Drogheda, will have a profound and serious implication for the patients and staff of both institutions. Both hospitals have given magnificent service to patients for many years. Closure is unacceptable to the patients, staff and the communities they serve.

Given the economic context, while we must have austerity at this time, we need austerity with compassion, sympathy and consideration for the vulnerable sectors in our community. There is no more vulnerable sector than the elderly. Those who have worked hard and served our nation well in its formative years now find themselves in some instances needing nursing home accommodation. Unfortunately, as per the recent budget, they find themselves threatened with the closure of these homes.

The HSE service plan for 2012 states that a minimum of 550 public beds will close in the course of the year. However, if we examine the document more closely, we find the HSE reveals that the true number could be as high as 898 beds, which represents approximately an 11% cut in the number of beds in public residential care. This has profound implications throughout the country.

My particular concern today is St Joseph's Hospital, Ardee, the Cottage Hospital, Drogheda, and the rumoured reduction in the numbers of bed accommodation available in what is a state-of-the-art facility at St Oliver's, Dundalk, which was built as recently as the 1980s or early 1990s. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, to advise us whether there is any basis to the rumours and, if not, to put at rest the concerns of the patients and the staff at the hospital. If there is no basis to the rumours I ask her to put at rest the concerns of the patients and the staff in the hospital.

There is no justification for the closure of these hospitals and there will be no benefit to the HSE because under the Croke Park agreement staff will have to be allocated to other HSE facilities in the area. There is a high quality of care in the hospitals earmarked for closure and as far as I am aware HIQA has not reported any cause for concern in any of them.

The treatment of the elderly by the Government is totally unacceptable. The brunt of cuts will be borne by the sickest and poorest old people. They are on low fixed incomes, have health needs and are dependent on the State for essential services. This raises the fundamental question - how do we as a society treat our older people? Do we cast them aside and forget about them? Is the State dismissing care for the elderly as one of its core functions? If the planned closure of so many community hospitals and nursing homes throughout the country proceeds as is apparently intended there will be profound implications. Finding alternative accommodation in the private sector for those who, in many instances, have lived for years in those hospitals, will be extremely difficult. It begs the question in a county such as County Louth where there are an estimated 16,000 people aged over 65 years. I readily admit that the 16,000 will not all need institutional care but a percentage will at some stage. More and more people are living to a much older age. If I walk through any of the towns in my constituency I regularly meet people aged 90 and over. Inevitably, they will need accommodation.

I ask the Minister for State to put the concerns of elderly people in County Louth to rest by telling us she will not close the hospitals I mentioned.

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