Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, I do not accept the Deputy's assertion. The Government is acutely aware of the challenges and difficulties in the health service. That is why an extra €650 million was put into the system for 2015. It is also the reason the Minister established a specific unit to deal with the emergency department trolley numbers. There were 400 at 8 o'clock this morning, and obviously that will decline during the course of the day. That unit met on 2 February to consider a strategy to deal with this. In Drogheda, for example, there is an acute shortage of beds in the locality to deal with delayed discharges from the hospitals.

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