Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To reiterate what I said earlier, I thank our guests and all the members of their organisations for the work they have done, particularly over the past two years. It has been a very difficult time for everyone involved.

The presentation from the IMO referred to 5,000 additional hospital beds. This issue came up while I was on my way here. I refer to the proposed elective hospitals for Cork, Galway and Dublin. The report presented from Sláintecare was to the effect that they would provide day facilities only. I cannot talk about Galway or Dublin, but we definitely have a bed capacity issue in Cork. The IMO made a substantial contribution when the Sláintecare issue was being dealt with. How does it fit that into what is being proposed for these three centres?