Statement by Minister Shatter on Mount Carmel Hospital

Speaking today about the closure of Mount Carmel Hospital, Fine Gael TD for Dublin South, Minister Alan Shatter said:

‘This is a very sad day for the staff of Mount Carmel Hospital as the employment of a majority of them in the hospital terminates today. A great many people have received excellent care at the hospital over the past 65 years. It is my sincere hope that staff at the hospital quickly find alternative employment’.

“I want to thank my colleague, Joan Burton TD, Minister for Social Protection, following on from our conversation earlier this week for speedily arranging that officials from her Department attend at the hospital to provide essential information and assistance to staff of the hospital concerning their financial entitlements.

“It is my hope that the excellent facility of the hospital will again in the not too distant future be fully operational in the provision of medical care and that this important facility is not totally lost.”