Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a question for the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Jim Daly. It relates to the future of St. Joseph's Community Hospital in Stranorlar as well as Ramelton Community Hospital and Lifford Community Hospital. There was a march last Saturday at which many hundreds of people in the Stranorlar and Ballybofey area came out to march about the lack of prioritisation by the Government of funding for St. Joseph's Community Hospital because, as the Minister of State knows, the Government indicated back in 2016 that it was its plan to close all three hospitals. Will the Minister of State update us today on the funding commitment towards those three hospitals? Will he also give us an assurance that an allocation will immediately be made in the HSE capital plan for those three hospitals? Will he further give a commitment that the design phase, in particular for St. Joseph's Community Hospital and Ramelton Community Hospital, will commence immediately to ensure that they are brought up to the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, standards and that the long-stay residential beds there will continue for those communities into the future?

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