asked the Minister for Health the financial allocation for Barrington's Hospital and St. John's Hospital in Limerick for each year from 1983 to 1988 inclusive.

The information sought by the Deputy is as follows:

Would the Minister agree that since he came into office the budget of Barrington's has been reduced from £2.184 million to £1.6 million which is a cut of £584,000 and St. John's has been reduced from £2.037 million to £1.3 million which is a cut of £737,000? In the light of those figures where the reduction in St. John's is 50 per cent more than that of Barrington's, can the Minister indicate why he decided to close Barrington's Hospital?

This is essentially a statistical question dealing with the financial allocation to Barrington's Hospital and I will not allow an extension of the question.

The Minister is willing to answer.

I have allowed the Deputy his supplementary.

The Minister agreed to answer it.

Which question, a Cheann Comhairle?

If the Minister wishes to reply to Deputy Barry Desmond's statistical question he is entitled to do so.

During 1986 and 1987 a major capital scheme amounting to £0.5 million was undertaken at St. John's. As separate capital funds were provided by the Department for this scheme it was reasonable for the Department to assume that the hospital would not need to be funded to the usual extent for its normal maintenance requirements which came from its revenue budget. This did not apply to Barrington's which had to fund its routine maintenance requirements from its revenue budget for these years. Also, Barrington's Hospital operates a 24-hours, seven day a week casualty unit whereas St. John's operates a nine to five, seven day casualty service. The major commitment of Barrington's to casualty demands that its funding should be protected to the maximum extent possible pending the implementation of any decision on an alternative location for the service. In this context the cuts to St. John's allocation would have a less serious impact on services.

Since the original allocation to Barrington's for 1988 was considerably in excess of the original allocation to St. John's, what were the criteria that so dramatically changed the situation to cause a reduction from £1.6 million to £0.4 million in a matter of months?

That was based on the decision to close Barrington's Hospital from 31 March.

What were the criteria that led to the decision that, first, Barrington's would be funded——

The Deputy is injecting new matter into this question.

——over and above, St. John's and in a matter of months the absolute reversal of policy that led to the closure of Barrington's and the designation——

That is an extension of the question.

I refer the Deputy to numerous public statements which I have made on this matter giving the reasons why St. John's was selected to remain open.

Will you elucidate now?

I could also add that my predecessor, Deputy Desmond, who is present in the House, allocated £500,000 to St. John's within the last three years.

A Cheann Comhairle——

A final supplementary.

Would the Minister not agree that the only reason for the allocation of £500,000 to St. John's was that the two main floors in the hospital were curving in in a "V" and had to be replaced? The floors were rotting beneath the patients and therefore we had to put in £500,000 worth of flooring in the hospital, otherwise, as the Minister knows from the records of the Department we would have had to close the hospital.

In my opinion, it was an indication of the commitment of the previous Minister to ensure the future of St. John's Hospital.

That is stretching it.

I give up.