FG’s pledge to build new hospital in five years

The proposed new Regional Hospital for the North-East will be built in Navan within five years if the party forms the next government. That was the pledge issued this week by the five Fine Gael candidates contesting the election in Meath West and Meath East. The FG candidates have outlined proposals to progress the project through a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement and have indicated that they are aware of several different investors, both at home and abroad, who would be willing to invest in the project. While their commitment was welcomed by the Save Navan Hospital campaign and other election candidates, they cautioned against promises made “in the teeth of an election campaignâ€. The Fine Gael candidates - Deputy Damien English, Cllr Catherine Yore, Cllr Ray Butler, Deputy Shane McEntee and Cllr Regina Doherty - believe that the 500-bed hospital can be built and funded through a PPP scheme, with a State buyout over a 25 year term from the date of handover. “We have had discussions with the HSE building management team and the project is one of the major developments on their list of priorities, which was submitted to the Department of Finance in 2010,†they said in a joint statement issued this week. “We outlined to them that funds will be available to design, plan and build the project, which will take five years to complete. There will be 2,500 jobs in the construction of the hospital and 3,000 full-time jobs in the provision of services on the site. “We in Fine Gael recognise that the population of the north-east will increase by 250,000 people over the next 20 years and we have to plan and prepare for that,†they said. Deputy Damien English said they had held talks with investors, both here in Ireland and abroad, who were willing to invest in the hospital, which is likely to cost in the region of €600 million. He said the investors would build the hospital and the State would buy it back over a 25-year period. He said the project would have to go out to tender, and the initial planning stages would take about two years, with construction taking a further two-and-a-half years. Chairman of the Save Navan Hospital Campaign, Cllr Peadar Toibin, pointed out the emergency department in Our Lady's Hospital is currently under threat. “Our psychiatric unit is under threat and the orthopaedic services are under threat. While I welcome that Fine Gael have joined with other parties to support the building of a regional hospital, I would caution against promises made by all these parties in the teeth of an election campaign,†he said. “This county has received grandiose promises about the hospital over the last 10 years and none of them have come through. In actual fact, the opposite has happened, cuts have ensued. I think it was clear on 30th October, when 10,000 people took to the streets of Navan in support of the hospital, that this county won't be taken for granted again. I invite parties to show real and long-term commitment for the hospital by supporting the Save Navan Hospital campaign for a new regional hospital in this county,†he said. Cllr Shane Cassells said his position had always been to pursue the project in whatever way it could be delivered. He said that he had already spoken with parties interested in delivering the hospital through a PPP. “I am glad that Fine Gael are coming on board with something that we have set out already. There aren't the funds available in the capital budget to build it out of the public purse. We proposed a PPP already and that is why we have been driving the project through our county development plan,†he said. Regional Health Forum member, Cllr Joe Reilly, said the Fine Gael statement raised a number of questions and said it would be cruel in the extreme if this was an election stunt to raise the hopes of the medical profession, patients and the general public. He questioned where would the State funding come from for the preparatory work on the project. “Have they discussed this with either the EU or the IMF? Is the site going to be in Navan?†he asked. He said that while he would welcome a new regional hospital and had been campaigning for Navan Hospital over the years, it was not good enough to just make pre-election statements and expect to be believed by the public. A spokesperson for the HSE said that, due to financial constraints, funds are not available to progress the new regional hospital for the north east within the current capital plan. “The HSE continues to work with the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Finance to progress the issue of funding and of alternative funding mechanisms such as public private partnerships. “The HSE has indicated that if a PPP cannot be progressed, then funding provision will have to be identified in the next capital plan with a view to the provision of the facility by 2019/2020. The design and planning process would only be progressed after the procurement of a design team, which would not be progressed until the funding mechanism has been agreed and appropriate approvals are in place.†At Monday's Meath County Council meeting, Cllr John Farrelly referred to a letter sent by the HSE on 12th January last to county council director of services, Kevin Stewart, stating that there was no defined funding in place for a regional hospital. “As such the project remains at a very preliminary stage,†it said. Cllr Farrelly said that the hospital was one of 10 major infrastructural projects submitted to the Department of Finance for consideration “well over a year agoâ€. He said: “Nothing had been done on this by the outgoing government. The only way the project would go ahead was through a public private partnership.†It was a project which would take five years to complete, would employ 2,500 during construction and 3,000 people when it was built, he added.