The decision on which hospitals will get capital funding this year is not to be made by the Health Service Executive, recently set up to run the health sector, but by Minister for Health Mary Harney, it has emerged.
Despite budget for capital developments in the health sector this year being announced some six months ago, it has still not been decided how it will be spent due to ongoing wrangling between the Departments of Health and Finance.
It has now transpired that when the HSE was submitting its plan for capital developments this year, it was asked not to prioritise individual projects but to give a full list of all the capital developments required across the State as well as a list of projects already underway and the stages they were at.
This was so Ms Harney could prioritise projects she felt were in the greatest need of resources. The move has taken some HSE officials by surprise. "The HSE wasn't asked to give a priority listing. She's calling the shots," one source said.
Some €584 million was allocated for capital health spending in the December Budget but months on hospitals like Wexford General are still waiting to see whether it will get a share so that its long-promised 19 extra beds can finally be put in place to ease overcrowding.
HSE sources indicated there was no problem about funding these projects, the wrangling with the Department of Finance over funding to staff the extra beds was the stumbling block.
Ms Harney has already said she does not want a scenario where state-of-the-art facilities are put in place but cannot be opened because staff or running costs cannot be met.
Such a scenario arose during the tenure of Micheál Martin when some €400 million worth of healthcare facilities were lying idle going into the local elections last year due to a lack of funds to staff and equip them. Mr Martin later acknowledged the public were annoyed at this and it may have led to Fianna Fáil's poor showing in the elections.
A spokesman for Ms Harney said clearance was expected from the Department of Finance shortly so that this year's capital development programme could finally be rolled out.
He added that it would always be a matter for the Minister to prioritise areas which should receive funding. There was nothing unusual about the Minister prioritising items within the capital spending programme, he claimed.
Ms Harney's priorities for capital spending this year will be services for the elderly and more beds, particularly in regional locations. Accident and emergency services will also be a priority.
She has already said her announcement as to which projects get funding will "not be made with great fanfare and there will not be a major press conference. The relevant people will be told about progress regarding their capital projects".