The Private Hospital Deal Will Be Added to a Long List of Extreme Government Waste
Aontú Leader & Meath-West TD Peadar Tóibín has condemned the continuation of €115m per month being paid in rent to 19 private hospitals which are minimally occupied, when so many other sectors of the Irish economy and Irish society need those funds more.
Tóibín: “As farmers’ incomes have been further hit with negligible government support – as recognised by an Taoiseach, as childcare facilities buckle under the economic impact of Covid-19 and the withdrawal of government funding, as hospitals have seen cancer screening postponed, services reduced, and staff denied adequate PPE, it is farcical that the government continues an arrangement whereby €115m per month of taxpayers’ money has been continuously paid to rent private hospitals which have barely anyone in them.”
“For sure Covid-19 is a crisis and its journey through the country was unknown at the start. But the slow pace of change by the government was startling. The government has shown no signs of attempting to end the deal early despite the hospitals not being required and being grossly overpaid to remain largely unoccupied. This is hitting hard in terms of patients waiting for health care and in the cost to the tax payer of empty private hospital beds.
“The “Private Hospital Deal” will be added to a long list of extreme government waste, such as the National Children’s Hospital and the National Broadband Plan. Aontú calls on the government to end the deal immediately, and to divert allocated funds to those who most need”.
