Taoiseach confirms Cork's new hospital to be signed off next week 

Micheál Martin says he's taking the elective hospitals issue 'by the scruff of the neck', with facilities in the pipeline in Cork, Galway, Dublin, and Limerick 

St Stephen's Hospital at Sarsfield's Court in Glanmire has been mooted as the location for Cork's new elective hospital. Irish Examiner stock picture

A much-needed new hospital for Cork, which has sparked heated debate over its location, is to be signed off on by Government next week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has confirmed.  

He said a new elective hospital for Cork had been delayed for too long. 

The 'Irish Examiner' revealed today that St Stephen’s Hospital in Glanmire is the mooted site for Cork City’s new elective hospital.

Mr Martin said that, despite an announcement of a second hospital for Cork five or six years ago, very little had happened since. Mr Martin said: 

We’re taking this by the scruff of the neck to say we want elective hospitals in Cork, Galway, and Dublin.

“And subsequently we need one in Limerick, I reckon, as well,” he said.

“Government will take a decision next week. I’ve been a strong advocate for this and we’ve taken very strong measures to make sure this project was progressed, because it was hanging around for too long.”

Voices raised in favour of southside site 

Some hoped that the new elective hospital site would be closer to Cork’s largest acute hospital, Cork University Hospital, to create a larger medical hub and encourage more interaction with research and industry.

Prof John Higgins believes a new hospital adjacent to CUH would be best for the city and the region’s future.  File picture: Eddie O'Hare

John Higgins, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at University College Cork and former director of the Reconfiguration for Acute Hospital Services in Cork and Kerry, said he had spent a long time studying the issue and believed that a new hospital adjacent to CUH would be best for the city and the region’s future.

The Glanmire site is on the opposite side of the city boundaries.

Prof Higgins said any new hospital must be comprehensive and provide both inpatient and outpatient care and complex work.

He said that submissions he already made to the joint Oireachtas health committee contained the rationale for choosing a site adjacent to CUH which would allow staff to easily move between CUH and the new hospital. Prof Higgins said: 

Adjacency, for me is the most important feature so that we have a single hospital service on two adjacent sites.

“We need an elective hospital. That is very important."

The selection of the site has sparked a political row in Cork, with Fine Gael colleagues split over the Glanmire site.

Senator Jerry Buttimer, who is based in the western suburbs, welcomed the news. “It’s the very least we need in Cork,” he said.

“But I am disappointed that the Sarsfield Court [Glanmire] site has been selected, especially when we understand the rationale for the location of a new hospital, and the importance of co-location. 

“It is not close to any major hospital. It should be located in Curraheen, close to Cork University Hospital, Marymount, and the Mercy University Hospital.

“Sarsfield Court is the wrong decision, in my view, and I certainly hope there can be a changing of minds.

“We don’t seem to have learned from the debate about the national childrens’ hospital.

“This is not a northside versus southside debate — it’s about ensuring that this will work from a medical perspective.”

Support for Glanmire site

Colm Burke, the Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central, said the Sarsfield Court site is the correct location for several reasons, including the scale and scope of the 117-acre site, and that it is already in public ownership.

“This is about long-term planning for the next 50 to 100-years,” he said.

“There is no point in putting this new hospital on a constrained site.

“We need a large clear site with little or no restrictions for additional development and expansion over the years and decades ahead, and this site offers that.”

He pointed to major investment in the Dunkettle interchange and in future public transport developments, including Bus Connects and in the suburban rail network, which should make reaching the Sarsfield Court site by public transport easier in the years ahead.

He also called for the fast-tracking of the design, planning, and funding approvals to ensure that the hospital is built as soon as possible to meet surging population growth in the region.