Cork blood centre to learn of fate next month
Health Minister Mary Harney has said she intends bringing a memorandum to cabinet on the issue when government meetings resume next month.
But Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen, who has repeatedly criticised government delays on the issue, expressed scepticism that an announcement would be made. He said the Government had been promising a centre for years but consistently failed to deliver.
The issue of services in Cork has been a source of controversy since 1999, when the IBTS decided to centralise blood testing in its new Dublin headquarters.
Campaigners argued this was a significant downgrading of the Cork centre, located at St Finbarr’s Hospital.
The decision was subsequently reversed, following a recommendation by an international panel of experts in September 2002 that dual-site testing be maintained. The panel also recommended a state-of-the-art centre for the Cork branch.
In March 2003, the IBTS submitted its plans to Government for the centre, recommending it be located on the campus of Cork University Hospital.
Since then, however, the issue has been in limbo, with the Government failing to give the green light for the centre.
A spokesman for Ms Harney told the Irish Examiner this weekend: “I understand that the minister will bring a memorandum to Government on this matter in September.”
But Mr Allen pointed out that he had been getting variations of the same response from the Government for several years.
In February 2004, for example, the then health minister, Micheál Martin, told Mr Allen during a Dáil debate that he was committed to the provision of a new centre in Cork “at the earliest possible date”.
“The capital cost of the project, inclusive of special testing facilities, is estimated at €28 million,” Mr Martin said at the time.
Mr Allen called on Ms Harney to make a clear statement outlining whether the centre in Cork will get the go-ahead.
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