Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Some €18 million was spent last year on the winter initiative. Can the Minister advise if the same amount is being set aside for this year, or will it be more? We are 65 beds short of the target of 301 which was promised. Where did those 65 beds go?

The Minister said it is the intention to undertake a bed capacity review and that is very welcome. When will that start and finish and who will conduct it? Does the Minister have any plans or money set aside to act on the recommendations that will be made? We need to need too much time to know that there are not enough beds in the system. The bed capacity review should be a fairly quick exercise and it would be interesting to know whether the Minister has identified somebody who can carry it out.

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