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

It does not make any sense whatsoever to have a hospital group without a level 3 hospital.

ULHG is the only hospital group without one. That needs to be addressed and Ennis Hospital is the obvious hospital to be upgraded. I will leave that question at that point.

I want to return to the fundamental problem with how the health service works and the complete disconnection between acute hospitals and community. At any one time, there are around 600 delayed discharges in our hospitals. Why has that issue not been addressed? It has been identified for a long time. We have had this blockage of beds for a very long time. Everybody talks about more beds. Why are we not ensuring there is patient flow to free up those beds? Why is that not happening?