I want to raise again the unbelievable closure of St. Brigid's District Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir by the Taoiseach, his Minister, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and to raise the refusal by the Taoiseach's and his Ministers to meet with Councillor Kieran Bourke, with the activist groups and with nurses and nursing staff there to explain why this was done in the middle of a pandemic. St. Brigid's is a wonderful institution that clearly was good for step-down beds during Covid, the use of which the Government took over in March, and for cancer care and palliative care. The Taoiseach will not even meet with the people or the representatives, and then he gives Mr. Watt an increase of €81,000. It is shocking what goes on in the HSE with procurement and yet the Taoiseach does not have the manners or respect to meet with Councillor Bourke or his colleagues in Tipperary County Council, with the action group, or with the doctors and nurses involved in the hospital. They will not accept this and it is not going to go away. I want to know when the Taoiseach will meet them.

On the same issue, will the Taoiseach ask the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, if she will meet the representatives of the people of Carrick-on-Suir to discuss the closure of St. Brigid's? In a recent letter the Minister refused to meet with them and, effectively, dismissed their concerns. This is at the same time locals are seeing the facility being asset stripped and everything being moved out. They are angry and feel disrespected. Will the Taoiseach or the Minister confirm if an analysis was done of how much it would cost to bring the facility to the standard the HSE claims it does not meet? Was this done before the decision was made? If so, will the Taoiseach provide that analysis to us? If it was not done, then the people of Carrick-on-Suir and the surrounding areas deserve an explanation as to why it was decided to close the facility rather than attempting to keep it open. Other Deputies from Tipperary and I were told last summer that it was going to reopen as it was. Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister to meet with the people of Carrick-on-Suir urgently?

I personally did not close anything and I certainly did not close that facility because I was not involved in that decision. I have not refused to meet anyone.

The Taoiseach has.

I do not know whether the Deputies have talked to the HSE locally. I suspect that the Deputies are aware of why the HSE took the action it has taken. That said, it is my understanding that the HSE wanted to invest in the centre with different purposes in mind. The facility needs a lot of investment and its current structures are not in a very good state, and I believe the Deputies would agree with that.

That is not true.

The Taoiseach please without interruption.

I have no issue in engaging with the HSE. I have not refused to meet with anybody. I do not know why people assert that I have, I have not. That remains the position.