Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I sympathise with all the families who have lost loved ones as a result of this virus.

I raise with the Minister concerns about St. Brigid's Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir. I have been contacted about the hospital by a local councillor, Kieran Bourke, and some of the staff at the hospital. St. Brigid's is a facility of the highest reputation and standards within the system. It acts as a step-down facility from acute care for the south Tipperary and south Kilkenny areas. In the current crisis, it was appointed as a step-down facility for Covid-19 patients who had left acute care. We were informed two weeks ago that the demand for such Covid-19 step-down beds at St. Brigid's had decreased, that the hospital had been temporarily suspended and that admissions for step-down Covid-19-related care there would resume when required. However, it is now believed that beds are physically being removed from St. Brigid's to be used at Our Lady's Hospital in Cashel. Will the Minister ask the HSE to make it clear that there is no threat to the future of St. Brigid's and that when the Covid-19 crisis has ended, it will return in full to its previous service within the community?

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