A CT scanner at the Louth County Hospital in Dundalk, which was the subject of angry exchanges in the Dáil earlier this year after it emerged it was lying idle, is still not up and running, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has confirmed.
The scanner hit the headlines in February when it emerged it had been standing idle for a few months in a laundry at the hospital.
It was again in the news just over a month ago when the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, travelled to the hospital and officially opened a special unit housing the controversial scanner.
At that time the HSE insisted the equipment, which is used to image various parts of the body to diagnose conditions ranging from cancers to strokes, would be in use within two weeks.
Now, more than four weeks later, the HSE has confirmed it is still not operational.
However, it said last night it expected it to be up and running shortly.
Kevin Figgis, Siptu branch organiser, who represents radiographers in the region, said it was his understanding that the equipment still hadn't been commissioned, a process which results in it being signed off by engineers.
He said after it was commissioned, there would have to be "application training" for staff using it and he said advertisements for full-time staff to run the service had been posted only in recent days.
However, he said, a radiographer would be prepared to travel from Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda to Dundalk two mornings a week to operate the scanner on an interim basis until full-time staff were recruited.
He said the key to getting the scanner up and running now was having it commissioned but he added: "It has to be accepted there was a fundamental mistake made in not having the staff on site to coincide with the initiating of the CT service for Dundalk."
A HSE spokeswoman said it was now expected that the scanner would be commissioned this week and staff training would be organised shortly thereafter.
She said it was anticipated the scanner would be up and running very soon.
During angry exchanges in the Dáil in February, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the scanner would be operational in March.