No hospitals will be closed under the Government's health strategy, the Taoiseach has insisted.
"As I stated repeatedly, any reform procedures announced by the Government regarding the Brennan, Prospectus or Hanly reports do not involve the closure of any hospitals anywhere.
"The overall health strategy, in particular the Hanly report aspect of it, is a 10-year plan," said Mr Ahern. "It will mean a better outcome for patients, better quality hospital service and a significant increase in the number of consultants available to see patients promptly and treat them with the help of the non-consultant hospital doctors, the junior doctors, 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. It will require substantial change in the contracts for hospital doctors and that is part of the reform."
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, said it was clear that the national infrastructure, be it roads, helicopters or ambulance service, could not deal with the implications of the Hanly report. He asked Mr Ahern to clarify his qualification of "demographics" and "geographics" in the context of Nenagh and Ennis hospitals. He added that the RTÉ Prime Time programme had stated that shutdown faced both of those and other hospitals.
Mr Ahern said the three plans constituted an overall reform of the health services and had more than one aspect. "The two pilot areas in the Hanly report are the Mid-Western Health Board, which covers Ennis and Nenagh, and the east coast area, which covers Loughlinstown hospital and St Vincent's Hospital.
"Implementation teams will be put in place. They will be chaired by independent chairpersons and will have full consultation with local interests, such as medical, paramedical or community groups." Phase two of the Hanly report, he added, would examine the remaining parts of the country.
Mr Kenny said the second phase of the Hanly report would be implemented after the local elections next year. "Bearing in mind the Prime Time programme last night dealing with Nenagh and Ennis, does that not mean that for Mullingar, Tullamore, Tralee, Kilkenny, Castlebar, Bantry, Mallow, Monaghan and other hospitals, the implications of the Hanly report will mean closure and downgrading of the accident and emergency departments?"
He warned the Taoiseach that he would "rue the day politically" if he continued down the path of downgrading or removing facilities from those towns.
