A gift of €100,000 from the Victoria Trust, a long established charity operated jointly by the main Protestant Churches in Cork – the Church of Ireland, the Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church – is enabling the refurbishment and much needed re-opening of an operating theatre at Cork’s South-Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH).

The Chairman of the Victoria Trust, the Right Reverend Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork, announcing the gift, said:

These are difficult economic times for all our institutions not least healthcare institutions and charities.  Our charity has been prudent in managing its resources during these hard times and has been on the look out for a project to support at the SIVUH with which we have always been associated.  The re-opening of the operating theatre is essential and our charity is delighted to help.

Mr Gerard O’Callaghan, Chief Executive Officer of the SIVUH, welcoming the donation, said:

We have a long established relationship with the Victoria Trust which, in fact, owns part of our historic campus at the Hospital.  The gift comes at a time when orthopaedic, plastic surgery and pain medicine services have been transferred to the SIVUH.  The demand for operating theatre space has increased considerably and this gift will allow us to upgrade and re-open the Victoria Theatre at the Hospital.