Phase one of the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire has been formally opened this morning.
The official opening in 2020 was delayed due to Covid-19. Phase One of the project was delivered at a cost of €129 million.
Taoiseach Simon Harris unveiled a plaque at the hospital, which he was originally supposed to unveil as Minister for Health, to an audience of staff and patients.
He said there had been a sense of hope and resilience as he walked around the hospital today meeting patients, but added he hoped more would be achieved in future phases of the hospital's development.
Whilst phase one has seen the provision of 120 new single bed ensuite rooms, in eight wards, phase two will provide for the relocation of all remaining therapies and support facilities, from the original site, to the new building.
There are plans for another 60 acute hospital beds by 2031, and it will eventually become a 235-bed hospital, as the first purpose-built rehabilitation hospital in Ireland.
Mr Harris admitted there was still a long way to go for rehabilitation services in Ireland.
He said the increased capacity had not yet been delivered in phase one and that this was vital.
Mr Harris also said he was aware of the burden of having to travel for many people.
Those travelling include Maureen McGowan, a mother-of-three from Leitrim who makes the round trip to Dublin for her treatment.
Ms McGowan said she was referred to the NRH by her GP. She has not walked for a year and a half, and she has been a wheelchair user. She was working on a weakness on the left side of her body with a sports therapist in the gym to try to get some of her mobility back.
Her husband drives her to the hospital for treatment each week. "Its three and a half hours, sometimes if there's a lot of congestion it could be four hours, but you know I do go home on the Friday evening and I'm back here then Sunday."
She said every aspect of the patient care she had received there had been excellent.
"That's why we travel so far. A lot of people from the West of Ireland, everybody is travelling to get here, it's a phenomenal service."
Despite the long round trip, she feels she is lucky and the journey is worth it as she hopes it will help get her out more in the community in the future.
She says the NRH deals not only with the physical side of things, "but it's also inclusive for people with disability who might find it a bit isolating."
"You have the gym, we do music therapy here and they also do aqua and I've an excellent physio here... they don't always focus on the disability, they focus on your abilities as well which is brilliant."
NRH Chairman Kieran Fleck said at today's launch that the design of the hospital was patient centred and based on the principles of empowerment, dignity, privacy and choice.
He said the hospital looked forward to delivering Phases Two and Three of the development and he congratulated some of the hospital's former patients for qualifying for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris including Kerrie Leonard (Para Archery), Kate Kerr Horan (Para Equestrian), Britney Ardense (Para Power Lifting) and Colin Judge (Para Table Tennis).
