The Minister for Health has defended the decision to allow Mount Carmel Hospital to close. James Reilly says the decision not to intervene and buy the struggling hospital was not one taken lightly.

328 staff are set to lose their jobs when it winds down its operations in the coming weeks.

The High Court heard last week there were 60 inpatients and 170 outpatients. The Court heard the hospital has been in financial trouble since 2007, and has been dependent on the financial support of NAMA in recent years.

NAMA is no longer in a position to continue that support and the company, which has debts of over €39 million, is completely insolvent without sufficient funds to meet its overheads.

Minister Reilly has admitted that it is sad to see a well-known and long-standing hospital close down.

But he says there were good commercial reasons for the hospital not to remain in operation.