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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.