Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My constituency holds a shameful record as the location of the most overcrowded hospital in the State in 2017. University Hospital Limerick saw 8,869 people lying on trolleys last year. That is an absolute disgrace. University Hospital Limerick has been suffering from severe overcrowding for years. The situation is not just being caused by the flu outbreak. It has become a permanent feature in Limerick. The Government is doing nothing to help the patients in my constituency. The core of these problems stems from the downgrading of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's hospitals and the establishment of the so-called centre of excellence in University Hospital Limerick, which has not worked. In May, I expressed my concern that the opening of the emergency department would see the overcrowding levels transfer to a new part of the hospital. Unfortunately, this has come to pass. I raised a topical issue at the time with the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. I told him that the nurses on the ground were concerned that there was a plan to have 24 patients accommodated on trolleys and chairs from the get-go in the new emergency department. The Minister of State completely rebuffed this and rubbished my claims, dismissing any such suggestion, suggesting that there was no basis for the idea that 24 patients would be accommodated on trolleys in the new emergency department. This was wholly untrue. More than 24 patients are accommodated on trolleys and chairs in the new emergency department every single day. It is often double that number. It is a shocking situation. It is ongoing, shameful, and exposes a health service in crisis. I asked the Minister to intervene in the summer. Instead, he wrote an email to the manager of the hospital, outlining his unhappiness. That does not solve the problems. We do not need studies, reviews or investigations. We need extra money and extra beds to accommodate the patients. It is that simple. I hope the Minister is listening and that his Cabinet colleagues will reflect on this the next time they sit down and see how much tax they give away. They should think about the €335 million they gave away in October's budget and how that would help to address the crisis.

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