David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I must put it back to Mr. Gloster that before his time as head of the HSE, two emergency departments in neighbouring counties were closed. That was obviously part of the small hospitals framework and there may have been a logic for that at the time. It did, however, put additional pressure on the hospital in Limerick and it strikes me that it is only now or recently that this additional bed capacity is going in when that should have happened at the time of those closures. I also have seen it reported - I have spoken to people in the Department about this - that despite this first 96-bed unit, which obviously we want open as quickly as possible, through refurbishment of some existing wards in the hospital we may also lose somewhere between 40 and 50 beds. If that is the case, then the net increase of beds will be only 50 as opposed to 96, which is far short of what is necessary although I acknowledge there is a second block in the pipeline. What action can the HSE at the centre or at group level take to ensure that refurbishments of that nature do not result in a loss of beds at a time when we are hoping that those 96 beds will be a net increase of 96?