A coffee shop at Our Lady’s Hospital Navan was ordered to close after a live rat fell onto its floor and about six other dead rodents were found close by on sticky tape.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) served a closure order on the privately operated CC’s Coffee Dock at Our Lady’s Hospital Navan, Co Meath, in April.
Documents released by the FSAI under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request reveal the extent of the rat problem in and around the coffee outlet in the days leading up to its closure.
A member of the HSE Dublin North East Regional Health Forum, Cllr Wayne Forde (Ind) blamed a derelict site adjacent to the hospital - and not the coffee shop - as the source of the rats.
A dead rat was found in bin in CC’s Coffee Dock on March 23rd and the following Friday staff reported: “live rat fell from top ledge of overhead extraction ducting onto floor of CC’s Coffee Dock”.
A statement on March 30th records a number of dead rodents (five or six) found on sticky trap by staff near the coffee shop on the same day.
The coffee dock was shut down on Monday, March 30th, and remained closed until Saturday, April 4th.
The health inspector wrote there was an “absence of proof that rodent activity was confined to outside food preparation and storage areas of CC’s Coffee Dock. Baits and monitoring of baits was restricted to ceiling space and areas outside of CC’s Coffee Dock.”
The health inspector said the various contraventions outlined “pose an unacceptable risk to consumer safety”.
The part of the outlet the live rat fell down on to is not known because the HSE declined to provide additional details on its inspection report.
The outlet re-opened on April 4th after its closure order was lifted. A HSE spokeswoman said: “Hospital Management are satisfied that the rodent issue in the Coffee Dock has been addressed.”
