The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, has said that Monaghan General Hospital will go back on call for medical emergencies in the near future on foot of a package of investment in staff and equipment.
Services at Monaghan were again at the centre of controversy this week when it emerged that a 72-year-old man died while being taken by ambulance to Cavan hospital more than 40km away.
Campaigners and local doctors claimed that if Mr Benny McCullagh, who had suffered a heart attack, had been admitted to the nearby Monaghan hospital he would have been given life-saving "clot-busting" drugs which would have given him a fighting chance.
A spokesman for the Tánaiste told The Irish Times that Monaghan hospital would go back on call when additional staff, sanctioned last month by the Department of Health, were recruited.
Five new non-consultant anaesthetist staff will be employed at a cost of €750,000 a full year under the package. A larger emergency room is also to be opened at the hospital on a 24-hour basis.
Ten additional beds will be provided immediately at the hospital, while the Department has also agreed to establish a CT scanning service.
