Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown is to get a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner before the end of this year. It means patients will no longer have to transfer to other hospitals for scans, at considerable cost.
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said the purchase followed a meeting between Ministers and Health Service Executive chief executive Cathal Magee at which Mr Magee indicated it could be purchased from “unspent capital” in the 2011 budget.
He said it should silence scaremongering about the hospital being downgraded.