Way is now clear for Cork elective hospital, says minister

Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said that issues such as site selection and roads access for a proposed new elective hospital in Cork have been agreed, and the way is clear now to move ahead with Cork’s two local authorities to planning.

The minister was speaking to the media during a two-day visit to Cork this week when she toured community hospitals which have been recently refurbished in Kanturk, Millstreet, and Macroom.

“There are many projects in health and transport for which we need funding but they’re not shovel-ready yet,” said Ms MacNeill.

“So we have a secondary programme of funding that Jack Chambers is making available, so the money is there to make it happen, but we need credible projects ready to be delivered on the ground.

“I’m thinking, for example, of the elective hospital in Cork, which has been long discussed, and there have been many issues about site selection and access from the road and all of these complex issues — those issues, I am now pleased to say, are agreed.

“And, along with Cork county and city councils, we can move ahead with planning for both the road and the hospital.

“We expect to see that happen and when that is there, the funding will be there to build it.

“So there’s no difficulty with that — these are essential pieces of health infrastructure.”

According to Sinn Féin Cork North Central TD Thomas Gould, however, the minister’s comments underlined that a hospital which was originally approved more than 20 years ago and was promised in recent years to be built by 2027 will not now be complete before 2030.

“Unfortunately, the side effect of this is that the waiting lists are only going to get longer in Cork,” he said.

“She’s trying to put a spin on it, but this is another delay.”

Mr Gould said there were many advantages to selecting the site at Sarsfield’s Court in Glanmire, a former hospital which was used by people recovering from TB in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Sarsfield’s Court is a great location because of the size of it,” he said. “There’s 100 acres there. They can build an elective hospital and over time they will be able to add other facilities if they want to.

“If you look at the CUH now, it’s surrounded by houses, and the only way to go in the CUH is up.”