asked the Minister for Health the up-to-date position regarding the closure of St. Dympna's Hospital, Carlow and St. Patrick's Hospital, Castlerea, County Roscommon.

I have written to the chief executive officers of the South-Eastern, Eastern and Western Health Boards making various proposals concerning arrangements in regard to the two hospitals. These arrangements involve, in particular:

The provision of new psychiatric admission and short-stay treatment facilities which will be part of, or associated with, general hospitals.

The provision of a range of community facilities such as day centres, hostels and domestic scale residences.

Special provision for the care of elderly and mentally handicapped persons who are now living in these hospitals.

I have indicated that financial assistance will be available, where necessary, to enable these facilities to be put in place.

In view of the reported remarks by the Taoiseach in Roscommon about the Minister, could the Minister tell us if the decision to close St. Dympna's Hospital in Carlow and St. Patrick's Hospital in Castlerea, was a unilateral decision of the Minister or was it, as we understand it, a decision of the Government?

The decision of the Government remains unchanged. It is being implemented and as recently as a few days ago I had from the South-Eastern Health Board a detailed reaction to my Department on the putting in place of the alternative arrangements.

Some of which were totally rejected.

I hope to have the detailed reaction from the Western Health Board available to me in the near future. We are going ahead and making progress. We have also had comprehensive discussions with the Eastern Health Board in relation to their situation. As the Deputy knows, they cater for a large catchment area of St. Dympna's Hospital.

Has the Minister now changed his decision to close the hospitals and decided to redesignate them as geriatric hospitals? Would he accept that this is not practical in so far as there will be, for a long time to come, a number of psycho-geriatric patients and psychiatric patients who will need to be maintained? The Minister told us that he was withholding £1.9 million from the Western Health Board because of the imminent closure of St. Patrick's Hospital, Castlerea. Will he be reversing this decision and allocating them that money now?

I would stress very adamantly that there is no change of policy whatever. What is in train now is the implementing of this policy. Over the past few weeks I have had lengthy discussions with three of the trade unions concerned — the Irish Transport and General Workers Union and the Federated Workers Union of Ireland and yesterday I had discussions lasting several hours with the Psychiatric Nurses' Association, as part of the process. In brief, my reply regarding psycho-geriatric patients is that we have always clearly indicated that their needs must be catered for. We have put forward proposals to both health boards as to how this should be dealt with. As the Deputy knows, taking St. Dympna's Hospital as an example, out of 342 patients, 127 are over the age of 65 years. There are special problems affecting these patients. I have no doubt that we can cope with these, but we shall require co-operation on the part of all concerned.

A final supplementary question.

May I take it from the Minister's reply that there was never any intension to close any of these hospitals, that we misunderstood the announcement that they were to be closed on 30 January?

The Deputy should be aware that it is intended quite clearly to deactivate — to use some jargon——

But the Minister never had the intension of closing them?

——and to close the psychiatric hospitals and replace them by an alternative more effective model of psychiatric treatment. That will mean that in County Roscommon there will be an acute admission unit in the general hospital. I would stress to Deputy Leyden that that is the policy of the Western Health Board as proposed to my Department in formal documents.

Is it?

Equally, for the South-Eastern Health Board area we will have a major acute admission unit——

Where?

——in Kilkenny, for the Carlow catchment area. We have already provided £1 million in recent months.

And the Minister has already——

If the Deputy will bear with me, we have provided £1 million to that hospital to upgrade the whole energy system and to ensure that the hospital will be ready to take on the additional requirements in the years ahead. For Kildare an acute unit is being planned now for Naas General Hospital.

And Roscrea?

That will be done.

And a new acute unit for Carlow?

The Eastern Health Board have decided——

I call Question No. 37.

The health board have already decided to close the unit in Carlow.