Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The challenging situation at University Hospital Limerick, UHL, has been well reported over the past few weeks. Just last weekend, thousands of citizens from across the mid-west region marched in Limerick city to demand that the situation be resolved. One of the demands is that the accident and emergency departments at Ennis, Nenagh and St John's hospitals be reopened. I acknowledge that there are competing points of view as to whether this is the correct course of action but I know the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, will take the loud call seriously. Whatever decisions are made must be in the best long-term interests of the mid-west.

It is with the medium- to long-term challenge in mind that I raise this matter. This evening, I want to discuss the potential role of St. John's Hospital's in the provision of healthcare in a city and region that is expecting and targeting steep population growth in the coming years. Indeed, I believe that kind of growth can happen only if infrastructure projects such as that proposed for St John's are developed. After all, we will struggle to attract people and jobs to Limerick if we do not have adequate healthcare infrastructure.

The national planning framework targets a 50% population increase for Limerick city in less than two decades. State policy is to grow the city population at twice the Dublin rate. The State also has a firm policy of compact growth, meaning we should build up our cities and reverse the pattern of development of the past 70 years. In those decades, before we realised how misguided an approach it was, we allowed and even encouraged our cities to sprawl outwards year by year, with them creeping farther by farther in all directions through a process of enabling and planning development on greenfield sites. We have seen this in every city in Ireland, but Ireland is far from unique in this regard.

The consequences of the misguided approach have been car dependency and the decline of town and city centres. In fact, UHL was one of the first outward pushes of the city in the 1950s. The suburb of Dooradoyle sprung up around it. It was because of this and a series of other major suburban developments that the city centre fell into decline. St John's, of course, is very much the heart of old Limerick, which suffered so badly over the decades in question due directly to the policies of unfettered greenfield development. Now we are bringing the old city back to life in many Limerick are involved in this effort. Those of us in government are helping by scrapping the policies of sprawl. In the coming years, through the development of multiple sites, tens of thousands of new citizens will live near St John's Hospital.

When we plan any infrastructure, we do so first by trying to assess future needs, but our thinking has to go beyond just considering this because any infrastructure development has powerful impacts. These can be good and bad. Supporting the St. John's proposal to develop a 150-bed block would have a powerfully positive impact on a city that can and should have bold ambitions. It would make Limerick city stronger, and stronger Limerick city would deliver a stronger mid-west region and fulfil our national aspiration to rebalance growth away from Dublin, as laid out in the national planning framework.

From a healthcare point of view, I believe it is the right decision. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, and I have spoken in private about this on a few occasions. I have always appreciated those engagements. Most recently, he indicated there had been no decision on whether a fourth public elective hospital would get the go-ahead. I do not believe that the rationale that Cork and Galway, being within a 90-minute drive of Limerick, can meet Limerick's needs is sound given how development policy has been turned on its head recent years. I ask that the Minister support the development of St. John's Hospital in Limerick city.

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