Councillors warn FF of election wipe-out

FIANNA FÁIL councillors have warned of a wipe-out in next year’s local elections after a €39 million hospital redevelopment was put on hold by the Health Service Executive.

Fifteen members of Clare County Council wrote to party headquarters yesterday demanding intervention by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to put the works at Ennis General Hospital back on track.

The letter to FF general secretary, Sean Dorgan, followed a crisis meeting of the group on Thursday amid rumours the project was to be long-fingered.

Signed by Cllr Pat Daly on behalf of the 15, it warns any delay would create “huge embarrassment” for the FF party in Co Clare, particularly as Mr Ahern had visited the county before the general election last year and given assurances that the project would go ahead.

It goes on to urge Mr Dorgan to “get the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to intervene by immediately contacting [HSE chief executive] Professor [Brendan] Drumm and insisting that this €39m should be allocated for the original purpose.”

Mr Daly continues: “As you are aware, the local elections are taking place in mid-2009 and unless this development takes place, the local FF councillors will be wiped out.”

Planning permission for the hospital upgrade was granted late last year, but concerns at the lack of progress since then were raised by local TDs, Timmy Dooley of Fianna Fáil and Pat Breen of Fine Gael, in the Dáil this week.

Junior health minister Sean Haughey replied to their queries, stating that the HSE’s capital spending plan for this year was under consideration.

“It is not productive to release information about the status of individual projects in advance,” he said.

However, the complete briefing document provided by the HSE states in its overall capital spending plan for 2008: “There are some projects which will have to be delayed for a year or so or may have to be put on hold unless additional funding can be identified or they can be substituted for another project.”

It continues: “In the context of the capital funding available this year, existing contractual commitments, competing national priorities and cash- flow projections, the Ennis project is one such project.”

The HSE, which has signalled a need to shave €300m off day-to-day spending this year, has submitted its capital spending plan for 2008 to the Department of Health for approval. The plan states that unless the budget for hospitals is increased, it will prioritise significant hospital projects such as the National Children’s Hospital and projects where there are already contractual commitments.

A spokesman for FF said the party was aware of the concerns expressed by its councillors in Co Clare.

“The general secretary has received the letter and he has spoken to Cllr Daly about the matter,” he said.