Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As happens in most Topical Issue debates now, with no disrespect to the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Catherine Byrne, the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, has just left the building. He was here five minutes ago and he has just walked away, even though this Topical Issue Matter was down.

I demand that the Minister for Health provide immediate clarification regarding the future of St. Brigid's Hospital, Carrick-on-Suir. It is a wonderful institution and I salute the matron and staff there. It has a wonderful hospice suite. Only a few weeks ago a Fine Gael colleague of the Minister of State, former councillor John Fahey, spent his final weeks there. He was a decent fine public representative all his life. I offer sympathies to his wife and family. I have been trying to get clarification on rumours about this institution since I was contacted last Sunday. There is a new hospice suite and step-down beds. We know how hard it is to get a step-down place anywhere today in the country and the chronic problem that is making for our acute hospitals in south Tipperary, Westmeath and the region of Limerick. St. Brigid’s Hospital is like its sister hospital, St. Theresa's Hospital in Clogheen, which is a fabulous institution with a wonderful matron, Anne Walsh. The hospital in Cashel is a step-down facility as well. It is a tremendous institution.

We are beyond cuts. We cannot afford to lose one more bed. We have lost mental health beds and all kinds of beds, and the pressure that is putting on the acute service is silly. There is €17 billion annually going to into the HSE, with worse outcomes for respite and step-downs and convalescents. People go back there after having a hip done, if we have to send them up to Belfast or Ardkeen or Kilkenny, Cill Chainnigh. Serious concerns have been raised that the HSE may be considering closing the vitally important facility in Carrick-on Suir. Will the Minister of State clarify that for the sake of the staff, the patients, the matron and the community? Councillor Kieran Bourke and many others down there are asking that this facility be kept. Many people have contacted me.

I also ask the Minister to explain why the redevelopment of St. Patrick's Hospital in Cashel is not now expected to be complete until 2022. It is a wonderful institution and I pay tribute to its former manager, Mary Prendergast, and sympathise on her recent bereavement and the untimely loss of her husband. I pay tribute also the staff.

In June 2018, nurses at the hospital voted overwhelming for some form of industrial action to highlight the chronic staff shortage. The ballot for action was approved by 98% of them, citing growing fears for patient safety as their key concern. The nurses, care assistants and doctor we have thankfully found for the positions there do a tremendous job. However, they are not being supported. They are short-staffed and under pressure. Wards are being closed and cutbacks imposed. A massive redevelopment was announced there by the Minister, Deputy Harris, and by Deputy Kelly when he was in office. Indeed, Deputy Lowry has also made announcements. However nothing has happened. Planning permission has not even been applied for. There is no joined-up thinking. Beds are being closed yet they are vital to keep pressure off acute hospitals to allow people to convalesce or get physiotherapy.

St. Patrick's is an excellent institution in Cashel. There is a rehabilitation ward. My late mother was there and I know first-hand how many more patients there are. We need clarity and to have the building commence. Planning permission is not even applied for. We are going around in schemes and rhymes. Across the road, 400 yards away, Our Lady's Hospital is lying idle. That is why I was so adamant about the Minister being present tonight. I took him to the hospital to see it with other colleagues a year and a half ago and he was aghast to see that €21.5 million had been spent on that wonderful institution in which my appendix was removed years ago but it was lying idle but for offices. The top floor is splendidly redecorated and redeveloped but there are no step-down beds. It is a bed-free zone and a disgrace.

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