HSE rules out hotel proposal for co-location site

MULTI-MILLION euro proposals by a business consortium to construct a hotel on the grounds of a public hospital were ruled out by the HSE, it emerged last night.

Under the government’s controversial co-location plans, the Synchrony consortium had sought to build a hotel on top of a private hospital on the grounds of St James’s hospital in Dublin 8.

However, the Health Service Executive (HSE) last night insisted that in awarding Synchrony the contract to build a private hospital last month, the “agreed criteria” did not include anything other than providing 195 acute beds.

Any future proposal to build a hotel would have to go before the HSE again for approval and it is highly unlikely that it would ever be approved, sources indicated last night.

Earlier, Labour Party health spokeswoman Liz McManus called for the proposal to build a hotel on top of a private hospital to be “scrapped” and urged the HSE to dismiss the plan immediately.

“It is bad enough that the State should hand over valuable public land and provide generous tax reliefs to allow private developers to build private hospitals on public land, but it would be simply an outrage if they were allowed to build private hotels on hospital lands,” she said.

Last month, a consortium that includes multinational firm Capio Healthcare and developer Bernard McNamara secured the contract to build the private hospital.

The consortium’s backers include health entrepreneur Fergal Mulchrone, deal maker Niall McFadden and property investor Paddy Kelly, who is also one of the largest hotel owners in the State.

Developers had hoped that an on-site hotel would attract some of the 250,000 people who use St James’s Hospital every year.

Responding to details of the original proposal as disclosed by Newstalk 106 yesterday, Fine Gael’s Brian Hayes said it was “inevitable” that co-location plans would result in such a proposal.

“If you go down this road of privatisation, this is simply an inevitability. Next thing, you’ll have them proposing a casino,” he said.

Ms McManus also insisted that the proposal raised “very serious questions” for the Green Party.

“Were they aware of these proposals when they capitulated to Fianna Fáil and abandoned their previous opposition to the co-location plan? Now they are aware of it, would they be prepared to go along with it?” she said.

A spokesman for St James’s Hospital said the hospital could not comment on any co-location plans as they are going through a procurement process.

He said a confidentiality agreement had been signed by all parties to the negotiations.