Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)

Thanks very much to Ms Fitzgerald and her team for coming in and for the report. One could make the reflection that people in the mid-west would quite rightly question the views of experts. They were ridiculed in 2008 when they opposed the downgrading of Nenagh and Ennis hospitals. They were told that they were going to get a centre of excellence in Limerick, but that did not happen. It has caused a huge loss of confidence, not just in the mid-west but also in other areas. When we were planning our health services at the time, the advice of experts was followed and considerable political capital was spent on making those changes and convincing people that they were wrong and that the experts were right. It pains me to say that. This report is so welcome because it is based on data and proper projections from the ESRI.

Following on from the Cathaoirleach's questions, Ms Fitzgerald was making some comments on the model 2 hospitals. That has been one of the untold stories of reconfiguration in the context of a growing older population and hospital admissions. Has there been any examination of the types of admissions in Limerick? We know that a lot of the people who are being admitted now are older patients with complex and chronic illness. Many of those cases could be dealt with adequately in a model 2 hospital. Is there an ability in the short term to develop further model 2 capacity in the area, pending the outcome of this process?