Planning permission sought for co-location projects

The Government's controversial co-location plan has moved a step closer to becoming reality.

A leading private medical group has applied for planning permission to build facilities on the grounds of three public hospitals in Dublin, Cork and Limerick.

The Beacon Medical Group, which runs the Beacon Hospital in Dublin, is seeking to build private facilities at Cork University Hospital, the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.

The group says the proposed facilities would provide 495 hospital beds and cater for all medical and surgical specialities that the existing hospitals provide.

The Government says such co-location projects will help to free up public hospital beds currently occupied by private patients.

However, critics say they will simply exacerbate the two-tier nature of the Irish health system, with new facilities for private patients and decrepit services for public patients.