Minister defends decision over hospital funding

Minister for Health James Reilly last night defended his decision to approve funding for hospitals in the constituencies of two Cabinet colleagues, insisting Kilkenny and Wexford had been waiting a “long, long time” for facilities.

During heated exchanges in the Dáil about allegations of “cute hoor politics” in the fast-tracking of funding for St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny and Wexford General Hospital, Dr Reilly said “both these projects were approved for inclusion in the HSE capital programme in 2006 and they’ve been included in all the HSE’s multi-annual capital plans since then”.

He added: “Both these have been on the list for a long, long time.” Dr Reilly also rejected as disingenuous, a claim by his former party colleague Denis Naughten that any capital funding for Kilkenny and Wexford delayed the endoscopy unit in Roscommon. “It has not.”

He said he had taken a hands-on approach and waiting times for different inpatient, day treatment and outpatient services had been dramatically reduced. Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher said everyone accepted a Minister should take a hands-on approach in the delivery of healthcare but “this was a deeply cynical political exercise”. He said to Dr Reilly: “The fact is you sacked the board in April 2011 and a short time after that representations were made to the HSE board in terms of delivering an expedition of the hospital in Wexford and St Luke’s in Kilkenny.” Mr Kelleher said the board of the HSE had been completely unaware that a decision had been taken to fund Kilkenny and Wexford.

United left Alliance TD Richard Boyd Barrett claimed “cute hoor politics are alive and well”.

Mr Naughten hit out at the downgrading of Roscommon hospital, which the Minister had described as four times more dangerous than University Hospital Galway. Mr Naughten said the Minister’s comments had been directly contradicted by his officials.

Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin claimed the Taoiseach was evading the central issue about the talks he had with his Cabinet colleagues about the hospitals.

‘Witch hunt’

Earlier Taoiseach Enda Kenny accused Sinn Féin of engaging in a “witch hunt” against Dr Reilly. He insisted “no other projects have been delayed, omitted or withheld from the capital programme to accommodate these projects”.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said he had asked about the transparency and accountability of Government decisions. He said there had been the “spectacle of a Labour Party Minister of State resigning over such politics while a serving Labour Party Minister engages in strokes”. Mr Adams said the Taoiseach had failed to provide a credible explanation as to why the hospitals were fast tracked.