The future of a planned £70 million private hospital for Galway could be in jeopardy after two objections were submitted to An Bord Pleanala against last month's decision by city councillors to endorse the project.
Local politicians fear that delay caused by the objections could increase the cost to £100 million and dissuade the backers from going ahead with the project on the eastern outskirts of the city.
Both objections are against the local authority's decision to allow a material contravention of the City Development Plan. Councillors voted overwhelmingly last month in favour of the hospital.
The application, by Blackrock Medical Partners, of Rathgar, Dublin, was for a 100-bedroom hospital, which would include
radiology and radiotherapy departments, angiography and physiotherapy facilities and five operating theatres and create 400 jobs.
The proposed Blackrock Clinic-style development would be the first private hospital to benefit from changes to the latest Finance Bill, which allows funding for private hospitals provided 20 per cent of beds are made available to public patients.
An Bord Pleanala confirmed yesterday that appeals had been submitted by Mr Derrick Hambleton, of Manor Avenue, Kingston, and Mr James Mulhern, of Castlelawn Heights, both in Galway city.
Mr Hambleton, a Labour candidate in the last local elections, said he believed a private hospital in Galway would be "divisive in an already divided society". An environmental impact statement should have been commissioned by the developer. "Where private health is encouraged by government, public healthcare services have suffered from neglect and lack of investment," he said.
A former mayor of Galway, Cllr Michael Leahy (FF), said he regretted the two objections. He was concerned that Blackrock Medical Partners might withdraw to the outskirts of Dublin.
Mr Leahy questioned how representative were the views of Mr Hambleton, who "got a miserable vote" in the elections. "The backers are concerned by the increased costs and any attendant frustrations which would be caused by a delay."
It was estimated that the cost of the project increased by £4.5 million between January, when it failed to get the necessary support, and July, when 13 of the 15 councillors voted in favour of it.