This article is from page 23 of the 2006-06-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 23 JPG
THE chairman of the Ennis General Hospital Development Committee has issued a statement saying the Clare Health services are still suffering under the legacy left behind from the Haughey era.
Peadar McNamara was referring to the period in the 1980s, when the late Charles J Haughey was Taoiseach.
During his time in office, the maternity unit in Cahercalla closed, never to be reoponed.
“Medical and acute care and maternity care services at the district hospitals in Ennistymon, Raheen and Kilrush were (also) closed,” he said.
These three units were later to be opened as elderly care units by the community.
“Ennis had four wards prior to 1988. Two of the wards were closed. There were threats to downgrade the hospital at the time, and the bed numbers fell from 130 to 88 beds. Ennis General Hospital still has 88 beds,” he said.
Angered by some of the accolades bestowed on the late Taoiseach by former colleagues following his death last week, Mr McNamara said, “Essentially this is the medical legacy that the Haughey administration provided for Clare, and regrettably, we are still under a cloud as to the future of Ennis Hospital.”
In his tribute to Haughey, former minister, Senator Brendan Daly outlined that what he said was his former boss’s vision of future acute health services in Clare.
He said that as minister for health and social welfare from 1977 to 1979, Mr Haughey had discussed the possibility of relocating the county hospital to Cahercalla with senior politicians in Clare.
He outlined plans to develop a medical campus on the site, then owned and run by the St John of God Order, which would include a maternity service and psychiatric services.
The Taoiseach is believed to have made the comments while on a visit to the county to sanction the further development of the maternity unit at Cahercalla Hospital in the late 1970s.
During the visit, the Taoiseach also spoke of his wish to close Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital on the Gort Road in Ennis. None of these developments were to come to fruition during his periods in power.