Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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Sure, but this point has been resisted for the last few years. It was blindingly obvious that there was an error made in the original reconfiguration of hospitals if there is one hospital group that does not have a level three hospital and therefore no ED. This has been resisted. Many of us have been raising this for quite some time and the Minister has resisted that and people are paying a high price for that, the fact that this principle was not addressed. There are a few of the hospital groups that have two level four hospitals for example, plus three level three hospital so it is a completely unfair allocation of resources.

When we look at the allocation of consultant posts that is even more stark because all of the other hospital groups have in the region of 600 to 700 consultants. Then, looking at the UHL group it has 230 consultants. It is way down with regard to hospitals, to appropriate beds, to EDs and to consultants. How can we expect UHL to be functioning properly and at an acceptable level for patient safety if it is so bereft of resources?