Government no closer to action on UHG – six years after Taoiseach’s commitment

It’s a case of one step forward, two steps back for University Hospital Galway’s planned new Emergency Department, which remains in limbo years after the Government acknowledged it needed to happen.

It’s now over six years since Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the UHG Emergency Department ‘not fit for purpose’ – and still the Coalition doesn’t know when a planning application will be lodged.

All of this comes as UHG and Portiuncula in Ballinasloe deal with Covid-19 outbreaks on several wards, and both continue to impose visiting restrictions.

Galway Senator Seán Kyne (FG) raised the issue of UHG’s ED again in the Seanad this week but learned nothing new.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly did not turn up to answer questions in the Seanad about the new ED. Minister of State Frankie Feighan, who went in his stead, could not give timelines for the project.

It prompted Senator Kyne to declare the project “is going backwards”.

“We know that the site must be cleared before a building can be built but a building cannot be built unless we get planning permission, and we cannot get planning permission unless a planning application is lodged. It seems that this project is going backwards,” said the Conamara senator.

The Seanad heard that a temporary ED is under construction at UHG and will be ready this summer.

This is to enable building works on the permanent new ED, which is part of a larger development incorporating maternity and paediatric services.

Minister Feighan could not say when the planning application for the permanent ED will be lodged, “as the project is still proceeding through the initial stages of the public spending code”.

“There are several enabling works projects to be completed on site before the main building can go ahead. On that basis, the design team has had pre-planning meetings with the local authority on two of these enabling works projects. The preliminary business case is under review with the HSE and pending board approval,” he said.

Senator Kyne said: “There are no timelines for this project that is of such vital importance to the people of Galway and the region and that is an absolutely frustrating situation for staff.

“I have heard reports that emergency department staff have resigned due to the pressures of their job and the Minister of State’s reply is not going to lift their spirits or those of anyone else.

“The people of Galway deserve a lot better than the information that has been provided here.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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