Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The facts as they present on the ground are that the emergency department is not safe.

People do not believe the hospital is safe, and that is a major problem. The panels have been established. Additional staff are needed, as are additional hospital beds.

We have to start from a position of acceptance. The Taoiseach can quote whatever figures he wishes. We could go into the history of the closures at Nenagh and Ennis, which created a regional pressure point at University Hospital Limerick. . That is all in the past, however. We need to deal with the present. In the current circumstances, the situation is unsafe. Rather than trading numbers with me across the floor of the House, I would like a commitment from the Taoiseach that the recruitment embargo will end, that the additional staff will be recruited, that there will be far greater ambition as regards beds and that he will make this hospital safe again. That is the demand from Limerick and the mid-west.

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