Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, it did. I accept that. The information was incorrect. One of my concerns has been that any consideration of any reconfiguration must happen after capacity has been put in place. The Deputy will be aware that we asked for a review, and we are considering that at the moment. As part of that review, it is recommended that additional beds be put into Drogheda.

I met with the Drogheda team. I was in the hospital again recently to talk to its representatives about exactly this point, and I asked what was needed in the region to ensure patient safety issues were dealt with and that, critically, we do not have what we had at the weekend which is just not acceptable. The team told me the most important thing was access to step-down beds in Navan. That is one of the issues we are discussing with the HSE, the hospitals and the hospital groups. We are in absolute agreement that what happened in Drogheda simply cannot happen. One of the long-term solutions to that is a lot more beds. There are 2,400 beds-----