TD refused to withdraw 'cover up' remark at Oireachtas hearing on St Brigid's Hospital closure

Independent TD Mattie McGrath was directed to leave the Petitions Committee hearing after he refused to withdraw a comment he made alleging a “cover up” in relation to the decision to St Brigid’s Hospital.  

Paraphrasing a famous line from  Shakespeare’s  Hamlet, Deputy McGrath declared: “There is something wrong with the state of Denmark with what happened to Carrick-on-Suir. It’s rotten.” 

He expressed incredulity at how the HSE first of all deemed St Brigid’s suitable to be used as a step down unit for Covid-19 patients and then told the public it wasn’t fit for use. He accused the HSE of “pulling the wool over people’s eyes”.  

A few minutes later, he  alleged that either the Minister was covering for the HSE or the HSE was covering for the Minister in relation to the closure of St Brigid’s. 

Sometime later, Dublin-based Fianna Fáil TD Cormac Devlin called on Deputy McGrath to withdraw his “cover up” comment. 

Petitions Committee Chairman  Martin Browne  requested his constituency colleague to withdraw the remark as there wasn’t someone present to respond or counteract the accusation.  

Deputy McGrath replied: “I won’t withdraw it. I have been dealing with the people of Carrick. It (St Brigid’s) was good enough for Covid and all of a sudden it wasn’t good enough.”  

After asking him once more, Deputy Browne directed Deputy McGrath to leave the meeting. 

The TD reiterated he wasn’t withdrawing the remark and indicated he was leaving to go to the Dáil chamber.