Eyebrows raised at minister’s opposition to hospital project

EYEBROWS were raised earlier this week when Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s top man in Cork described a key project in the State’s co-location policy as “not sustainable”.

Few could understand why Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin decided to voice so publicly his opposition to plans by the Beacon Medical Group (BMG) to build a e250 million private hospital on the grounds of Cork University Hospital (CUH).

Fewer still could understand how the minister could sit around the Cabinet table in Dublin and support co-location, but then tell a residents’ meeting in his constituency that one of the State’s first co-location projects was “not sustainable”.