Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have already raised the question on capacity, the priorities and the manner in which we should set about achieving the necessary capacities. The IMO stated that it had been putting this issue for the last ten years. I have been at health meetings in the last five years where the suggestion that we had an over-capacity in beds came up again and again. I did not believe that at the time.

I wish to put another issue before the witnesses. As our population expands, and it is expanding, and if we recover and hopefully we will fully from the pandemic economically as well as in health terms, the demand will then get bigger again. The question then obviously arises as to whether we are well-placed to provide the level of services required to that greater population. I am not referring to the ageing population to which everybody refers but to the influx of young people who are employed in this country. That has been the pattern for many years and will continue to be the pattern. There are children and family issues as well as older people’s issues. I would like to know if that issue is in hand and if those people at the coalface, on the front line, are prepared to push for the necessary facilities there.