21 February 2022
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie

Health Politics

Mick Barry TD

Socialist Party TD Mick Barry this morning called on the Minister for Health to give a clear assurance that the new Cork elective hospital will open on time and that there will not be a delayed opening as a result of staff shortages.

He also called on the Minister to publish the recommendation for the hospital’s site location and to confirm this week that the hospital will be built at the recommended site which is widely tipped to be at Sarsfield Court in Glanmire.

The Cork North Central deputy’s call for clear assurances with regards to staffing comes in the wake of yesterday’s SUNDAY BUSINESS POST article which featured a leaked recording of a meeting of Department of Health officials which cast doubt on the ability of the Government to deliver the new elective hospitals on time.
In the course of a discussion about the new elective hospitals in Cork, Dublin and Galway an unnamed official is quoted as saying: “There is no point in building a hospital in Galway in 3 years if we can’t see a clear path in how to staff it”.

It is understood that the reference to Galway might as easily have been made about Cork or Dublin, that a general point was being made about the three new hospitals as opposed to just a particular point about one of them.

Deputy Barry said this morning: “The most important thing this week is that the Minister names the location for the new Cork hospital. If Glanmire is the recommended location then that should be announced and the next step proceeded to straight away. But the Minister must now also provide assurances that our new hospital will open on time. The recordings published in the SUNDAY BUSINESS POST have cast doubt on the timeline for opening and the Minister should remove that doubt with clear assurances on the matter this week.”