asked the Minister for Health if all the necessary equipment has been installed in Beaumont Hospital; the negotiations he has had with the staff involved and the reason for the delay in opening the hospital.

The equipping of Beaumont Hospital has not been completed. The most expensive items of equipment such as x-ray, laboratory and electrical equipment will be ordered nearer the commissioning date as the warranty begins to run from the date of delivery. As the Deputy is well aware, the delay in opening Beaumont Hospital is due to certain difficulties which arose with the consultants in relation to the provision of facilities for private practice at the hospital. I have been making every effort to resolve these difficulties. Discussions have been taking place with the Irish Medical Organisation on the issue and I am very hopeful that the matter can be brought to a satisfactory conclusion, one which will allow Beaumont Hospital to be opened as soon as possible. It is my intention to arrange for full negotiations with representatives of all the other categories of staff involved as soon as the situation with the consultants has been satisfactorily resolved.

Is the Minister aware of the very serious concern in the north Dublin area about the insufficient number of acute hospital beds? Would he accept that ideology has prevented the opening of Beaumont Hospital? He wanted the consultants to have their private rooms across the city, anywhere they liked, but not on the campus of Beaumont. This can be justified only on the grounds of ideology. Would he not at this stage enter into negotiations with the other interested parties in Beaumont to ensure that that hospital will be opened at the earliest possible date?

The Deputy is quite correct; it has everything to do with ideology. There are 730 beds in that hospital.

While people suffer because there are no beds available.

As long as I am fortunate enough to hold this position, there will be no private hospital built on the grounds of that hospital and the consultants know that. I do not have the money for it. If the people of north Dublin are deprived of health services, it is because of the attitude of a very small group, probably no more than a dozen, who are determined that they will have the "give away" which the Fianna Fáil Leader gave them a few years ago and which was a disgraceful waste of public money. This has everything to do with ideology. Wasting money, duplicating facilities, having a two tier health system is something we cannot stand over and the Deputy knows it.

Would the Minister not accept that the consultants were prepared to lease the land to build the hospital? Would he not accept that it is in the interests of the patients that the consultants should be on the campus as long as possible every day? Would he not accept that there is no logic in his perception where he has no objection to the consultants being in Dún Laoghaire, Mount Carmel or anywhere else when they have finished their mornings work in Beaumont. The Minister will agree, I hope, that the correct place for the consultants to be is on the campus and, as long as it does not cost the Exchequer anything he should allow them to build their private hospital and consulting rooms.

I will not allow a private hospital to be built on leased land in Beaumont because the VHI money which would go into that hospital would be taken from the public hospital——

Nonsense.

I have offered to accommodate within the framework of the public hospital those patients who would require private maintenance care. I also told the consultants that I would lease them a small piece of land for private consulting rooms so that they would not feel so deprived. The reality is that with the Mater private hospital due to open — 120 beds — and the private hospital in Blackrock, there are now so many private beds in Dublin that, even if these consultants wanted to build such a hospital, they would have to examine the cost benefit involved. If they do not take this step, the VHI could finish up like the PMPA.