Plans have been unveiled for a new €100 million private hospital in the grounds of Adare Manor Hotel in Co Limerick.
It is the second such development in the past month after Blackberry Park Properties recently received planning permission for a 95-bed private hospital on the outskirts of Limerick city.
The new Adare Hospital and Clinic will stand on a 23-acre parkland site in the grounds of Adare Manor. A planning application on behalf of Adare Partners LP for the 23,250sq m (250,000 sq ft) facility was lodged with Limerick County Council last August.
A nine-member steering committee responsible for overseeing the development was presented in Adare Manor yesterday. It was chaired by Dr Ed Walsh, founding president of the University of Limerick.
The committee also includes the owner of Adare Manor and principal investor in the new hospital Tom Kane and Prof Eric Masterson, an orthopaedic consultant who will head up the medical advisory group. Mr Kane, a US multimillionaire, has owned the hotel and golf resort since 1987.
Up to 380 jobs will be created at the hospital which is due to open at the end of 2007.
Each of the 100 private rooms will have flat-screen televisions and computer terminals with internet access.
The low-rise development will have six operating theatres, two radiology suites and 30 consultant suites. It will provide a range of medical treatments including cardiology, orthopaedics, oncology, urology and gynaecology. It will also cater for neurology and plastic surgery.
Mr Kane said yesterday the new facility aimed to cater for 300,000 people in a catchment area from Galway to Tralee.
"There is a major need for additional medical facilities in the mid-west region. We have worked hard to bring together the best available team of specialists to work on this project to ensure that not only do we deliver what the community needs but we do so to the highest international standards."
He said the facility would treat public patients subject to Government approval. "This is not an exclusive club, and we have to look after patients as the need arises."
Dr Walsh said the plans marked a watershed project in Irish medicine.
"I am delighted to be associated with this kind of endeavour; it is truly an audacious project. When you have a vision, a good team and cash in place things can happen."
Prof Masterson said it was vital that patients in the midwest should be able to avail of a comprehensive range of treatments without leaving the area.
The steering committee also confirmed that talks had taken place with Bupa and the VHI in relation to providing medical cover for patients at the facility.
Medical insurer Vivas Health also announced yesterday that it would provide cover for patients at the facility.