- amid funding, location row
By - Eilish O'Regan, Health Correspondent.
Plans to have a new super hospital in the north-east ready to open in seven years were in doubt last night as a major row erupted over its location and funding.
As news emerged that Navan, in Co. Meath, is to be the location of the new 750-bed hospital, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said there is "not a red cent" to fund it.
The Co. Louth TD, who will face a backlash from his constituents over the failure of Drogheda to secure the hospital, predicted plans for the project will sit on the shelf.
"The reality is that in the tightening Exchequer situation there is no money for this in the next number of years and obviously while we would like a new regional hospital the concentration should be on enhancing existing services".
A spokesman for Health Minister Mary Harney said last night she will be awaiting the decision of the board of the Health Service Executive (HSE), which next week meets to consider the report on the hospital location.
Bitter
But it now threatens to become a bitter issue in the north-east in the forthcoming local elections and a headache for prospective Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
No specific funding has been allocated in the HSE's spending plan this year for the project and it is likely the whole planning stage - deciding how large it will be and where it will be sited - will take at least two years before any bricks and mortar are in place.
Campaigners for hospital services in Monaghan were also distraught and predicted more lives would be lost as people with life-threatening illnesses being forced to make long journeys for emergency care.
The plan is to make the new hospital the main emergency centre for the region, providing complex surgery.
The existing five hospitals will deal with more routine work.
The decision will mean the downgrading of both Drogheda Hospital and Louth County Hospital and will be a further blow to Cavan Hospital and Monaghan General.
Louth Fine Gael TD Fergus O'Dowd said yesterday's decision on the location of the project did not make sense.
"There is no decent road network to get to Navan from Dundalk, Drogheda or Cavan Monaghan", he said.
© The Irish Independent, 5th. April 2008.