Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. I am not suggesting that acquiring Barrington's Hospital is going to solve all the problems by any means but it will make a significant contribution to expanding capacity. It is an existing operating hospital and could be brought onstream very speedily. I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach will pursue that further.

Other critical things obviously need to happen in regard to UHL. The UL Hospitals Group is the only hospital group in the country that does not have a model 3 hospital. That has been a serious oversight in recent years. I ask that consideration would now be given to designating one of the other hospitals in the group as a model 3, as a certain amount of emergency department work could be carried out there if it had such a designation.

The recruitment embargo is having a significant impact on service delivery in UHL because there are not adequate numbers in certain professions. I again ask the Taoiseach to have a look at that and not just talk about global numbers, as specific professions need additional staff.

I hope he will come back with a response on those three issues: Barrington's Hospital, the need for a model 3 hospital to be included in the group, because that would make a very significant difference, and the staffing embargo.

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