Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Ulick Burke for sharing his time. I was delighted when the former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, announced he was purchasing the old Bon Secours Hospital and surrounding grounds in Tuam. It was a very particular project for the Western Health Board of which Senator Ulick Burke and I were members at the time. We fought very hard to have this property taken over and for a hospital to be built in Tuam. The application was sent to the Department in September 2002, over two years ago so we expected that we would have received an answer by now.

Many of the scares about this property were sparked when we heard reports that some of the Merlin Park lands in Galway of which the Minister is aware were to be sold. Whatever about the merits or demerits of that proposal, I could never understand the proposals to sell the lands and the hospital in Tuam, formerly the Bon Secours Hospital or "The Grove" as it is known locally.

I hope the Minister will tell us that the Department is proceeding to develop those lands. If the Hanly report means anything for community hospitals — and it is not always popular to talk about it — surely it means that Tuam would be an ideal centre for a hospital as it has the required population of over 30,000, being the catchment area of north Galway and south Mayo. This is why I strongly support the idea of the hospital. I was born in that hospital and have often said I do not want it to be the political death of me. I do not want it to go down in history as something that causes us all political grief. There is a strong desire in the community to see that hospital continue in the town of Tuam.