Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have been advised by the HSE that those responsible in Letterkenny have confirmed that the emergency department is under pressure. The reason provided – this is as specific as I can be – is that there are high attendances there and a number of delayed discharges and a suspected winter vomiting bug outbreak. That is as specific as I can be about the reasons around what is happening in the emergency department in Letterkenny. Those responsible are working hard to try to resolve this.

The hospital in Letterkenny, as in the case of many hospitals, will benefit from the winter initiative and will received the associated funding allocation. I hope that will be of help in future. I hear the concern expressed by Deputy McConalogue around what might happen and I realise influenza outbreaks and so on can cause many problems.

There is a more general point to be made about our health and well-being. It is important that people who should be availing of the flu jab avail of it to prevent themselves from becoming ill in the first place. I realise this is not specific to Letterkenny but it is a general comment in terms of what should be done to try to keep ourselves well and healthy so that we do not wind up having to go there. For those who do end up in hospital, we want them processed as quickly as possible. In fairness, those in Letterkenny are doing a great job in that regard.

I will bring Deputy McConalogue’s message back to the Minister, especially his point about escalation. I have no hesitation in doing so.

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