Councillors to see report on location of new Navan hospital

A row over the delayed release of a consultants" report on the location in Navan for the new regional hospital for the north-east was defused at a meeting of Meath County Council on Monday when the county manager agreed to release the report to councillors. Councillors Tommy Reilly, Shane Cassells and Jimmy Fegan had put down a section 140 motion requiring the manager to give to councillors, within one week, a copy of the RPS planning and environment planning report and recommendation dated December 2008 concerning the preferred site for the new hospital. A site at Nevinstown, outside Navan, has been chosen as the preferred site for the hospital but some members of the council had expressed concerns that another possible site on the Trim Road was also being considered. They said that indecision over the siting of the hospital would delay the project. County manager Tom Dowling said that neither he nor any member of the executive any objection in giving the report to the councillors. He said that he had wanted to clarify whether there was a legal impediment to releasing the report. He said he had found that there was no impediment. The council"s sole objective was to get this major hospital for Navan and it was important to leave every possible option open in terms of the siting of the hospital. He said he was arranging a meeting with the Health Service Executive (HSE) to discuss the issue. He said that the HSE 'may consider other options'. Cllr Tommy Reilly said that putting down a section 140 motion was not something he wanted to do. 'I thought the report should have been with the councillors in November when we were doing the Navan development plan,' he said. The consultants" report on the hospital site should have been circulated to council members, he said. Cllr Joe Reilly said the hospital was a major piece of infrastructure and they would have to come up with a strategy for it which would be sustained long into the future. The combined forces of the HSE and the Department of Health should come up with whatever was necessary to push this project to the next phase, he added. Cllr Shane Cassells said the hospital, which was of strategic importance, had to be considered in the overall development of Navan. Cllr Jim Holloway said the question of the options of the four sites were not his concern as long as the hospital came to Navan. But it was vitally important that the infrastructure should be put in place as well. The council had invested money in making the case to bring the hospital to the town, he added. Cllr Fegan said that he could not understand why the consultants" report, which had been commissioned by the council and paid for by the taxpayer, could not be made available to councillors. Mr Dowling said he had no problem giving the report to any councillor whio wanted it. He had been concerned that there might be some impediment to releasing it. 'I have nothing to hide and there is nothing to hide in the report,' he said. The council would facilitate whatever site was chosen for the hospital, the manager added.