Labour says hospital plan shelved

The Labour Party said last night that a proposed extension to the Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, Co Dublin, has been shelved to make way for a new private-sector facility to be built on the site.

The party's spokeswoman on finance Joan Burton said Minister for Health Mary Harney had acknowledged in the Dáil that she had met medical consultants and developers to discuss the construction of a new private hospital on the campus in Blanchardstown, which would be funded in part through tax breaks.

During the summer the Government announced a new policy initiative to encourage the private sector to develop up to 1,000 beds in new facilities for fee-paying patients on the campuses of public hospitals around the country.

This move is aimed at freeing capacity for public patients in public hospitals.

Ms Burton said last night she had been told by the Health Service Executive recently in reply to a parliamentary question that there was no commitment to fund a planned new phase at Connolly Hospital.

She said she believed that the decision to defer the new phase was linked to the moves to develop a private facility on the Connolly site.

The proposed phase II development of Connolly Hospital was to have included additional beds, operating theatres and specialties as well as new services for children and cancer patients, Ms Burton said.

She believed the building of a private hospital on the site could also endanger the prospect of a new hospice for west Dublin, which had been earmarked for either the Connolly Hospital lands or at nearby Abbotstown.

Ms Burton said there were sufficient private hospitals already, either in the northwest Dublin area or in the pipeline.

The Government's plans to allow developers to take over public land for private hospitals would "make a small number of investors very rich".

Ms Harney told the Dáil on Thursday she had had two meetings with regard to a private facility at Connolly Hospital. One involved representatives of hospital management, medical and nursing staff, the Department of Finance and the Department of Health.

The second meeting was attended by developer Bernard McNamara, a tax expert and her special adviser.

Sources close to Mr McNamara said last night he had been invited to attend by a senior consultant at the hospital.

It is understood Mr McNamara is not currently involved in any project to build a private hospital on the Blanchardstown site.

A spokesman for Ms Harney said last night she had met a number of groups regarding the development of private hospitals.