Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome the Minister of State and thank him for coming to the House to respond to the opportunity presented to him last week. He has come here willingly, as he always does, and I want to acknowledge that any time the House makes a request to the Minister of State, he responds positively and brings information with him. The more information he can bring us, the more we will invite him to come.

I acknowledge what the Minister of State said in terms of facilitating another four beds in the hospital. We need to go back a little bit. I have spoken with the authorities in the hospital at great length. In the past 12 months, I have raised the issue of the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire more than any other issue in the Seanad. I have been reliably informed that patients with spinal and brain injuries are waiting for life-changing treatments and many feel they are being left in limbo.

We have to get the context right. This week 209 patients are waiting to go into the National Rehabilitation Hospital. Those facts have been provided by the hospital. Its representatives are listening to today's debate. I spoke to someone an hour ago who was checking the time of the debate. That is very important.

We know these patients are holding up acute beds in general hospitals. Where does all that fit in with the hospital policy of the Minister of State and the Government? Are we for real? Since January, 12 beds in the hospital were cut on the watch of this Administration which told us it is absolutely committed to a national strategy for the rehabilitation of people with brain and spinal injuries. As the Minister of State correctly said, the 12 beds concerned relate to spinal and brain injuries. They are life threatening conditions and the hospital staff are frustrated and disappointed about what is happening.

I thank the Minister of State for making arrangements and facilitating the opening of four events in the next month. We have a real issue; we have waiting lists. The situation needs to be kept under constant review. It will come as a disappointment to the staff, management, directors, doctors and clinicians in the National Rehabilitation Hospital that this is the best that can be done, but it is a positive start. I want to acknowledge the intervention of the Minister of State in those matters.

The Minister of State referred to two other issues in his statement. I am delighted to hear the hospital project has gone to tender, that tenders will be announced and that it is to be hoped construction will start. The Minister of State will recall me asking him on numerous occasions in the House about the redress indemnity scheme and the sisters who own some of the lands.I am reliably informed that there are still issues around that. While I am not suggesting they are holding up the first phase of the redevelopment, there are issues as to the ownership of the lands. The Government is committing vast sums of money in investment at the rehabilitation site in Dún Laoghaire, which I welcome, but we need to be clear because we have seen this with other hospitals and schools where the religious are involved. I have no axe to grind with the religious and acknowledge their great commitment to health and education and other spheres of society and life, but we have to get this one right.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, went out there for half an hour and ended up spending an hour and a half. Everyone was thrilled with him and he was thrilled with himself. However, we are no further on. What is the story? Who owns this land? What commitments are there and have the nuns fully discharged these lands in line with their commitment to the State? I am privy to the conditions signed up to on these lands and am more than happy to make them available to the Minister of State. It is important before one brick is turned on the site, which I want to happen quickly, for the Minister of State to reassure the House or revert with supplementary information as to absolute clarity on the ownership.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House and welcome the four beds, which is a start but not good enough. It comes as a great disappointment to the staff there. I welcome the fact that the new hospital will start in June. The only outstanding issues are the remaining beds, which we can hopefully get reopened in the next few months, and clarification as to the full ownership of the site so that it can go ahead. Let us be sure that not one parcel of that land is sold for other development. There are a number of neighbouring industrial units and people want to buy that. The whole site must be ring-fenced for further expansion of the rehabilitation hospital services.