All Content Copyright emyvale.net
Below is an article I wrote and posted here many moons ago and you can see how my vision of the future is turning out to be
spot on. It is reported that it is turning out to be the most expensive Hospital ever to be built in the world. Are’nt we a great nation
that we can invest so much money. Who is to blame for this total mess, who signed the contract with out knowledge of the cost?
The Government, perhaps due to pressure from vested interests, allowed the plan to proceed but did they work out where the extra
money was going to come from? The have allowed the entire Health System of this country to collapse and now it is not fit for
purpose and they are being told that patients are dying needlessly due to the problems within the Health services but little is being
done to reorganise the system. The Health Services are cutting back on their expenditure which will make the situation even worse
and add to the number of needless deaths and all because they need the money to pay for this massive mistake. There is an
election coming up and I feel that many families will be convinced to place their votes elsewhere rather than with those who have
led us into this terrible mess. Had the hospitals like Ennis, Nenagh, Monaghan, and all the others that lost their services, been
reformed and doctors and nurses treated as they deserved, those hospitals would still be offering many services which would have
given the other hospitals the ability to treat the patients who needed specific treatment.
The Fiasco of the Childens Hospital: And so once again there is no one to blame and no one to take the responsibility but let’s have
three inquiries, costing time and money, to find out what went wrong and then we can carry on regardless. What am I talking
about? The Children’s hospital of course.
The protracted period of time before the decision on where to locate the hospital was costly enough and even then they got it
wrong. Which vested interest was served by placing it in the Centre of a city, which is for the most part grid-locked every day? Who
signed a contract for the building without knowing exactly how much it would cost? Who designed a modern public building without
a sprinkler system, only to have it added at a huge cost later. Who signed the contract and who passed the building as Fire-proof
and safe for those who would use it and work in it if sprinklers had to be added?
We are told that the original figure for a Childrens Hospital agreed by Government was €450 million. When consultants and experts
were paid to advise it added another €131million. When changes were made to the design and omissions in the original plans were
included another few hundred million was added to bring it to €950million and then with other additions the cost rose to an
unacceptable €1.45billion and now we hear that the final cost, agreed by Government, will be €1.7 billion. A friend, who seems to
know what is going on, has told me that it will not finish at even €2billion and there is the possibility that either the plans will have
to be scaled back or the hospital remain unfinished. Annoyingly we are also told that the Government and Department of Health
knew that it would cost €1.7 million a long time before it became public knowledge. Does this mean they were keeping it quiet so
as to get the best time to let the cat out of the bag.
So where is this extra money going to come from – well the HSE will have to scale back on what it can do for the next two years at
least, which means many other buildings and services, which are badly needed, will have to be abandoned to redirect the money to
the Hospital. Not only Health money but Education and other Departments will have to reduce their capital spending to give the
savings to Health. It also reduces the amount available to open extra beds, employ more nurses and doctors and to cut the
numbers on waiting lists. What a mess and no one responsible! and now I am reliably informed that the final figure, if they
complete the hospital as planned, will pass the €3billion mark.