Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his update. I, too, was in the emergency department over the Christmas period and spent time watching the staff and the patients trying to work and be treated under intolerable conditions. It is a tribute to the staff that they are managing to deal with in excess of 40,000 patients. We need progress on this. It has been delayed, with site visits and site inspections taking place for years. We need to see some type of ground works proceeding and action happening before next winter. A modular extension is a temporary solution, but the longer it is delayed the less temporary it will become. Mayo University Hospital has also had to cope with a larger influx of patients as a consequence of the closure of the emergency department in Roscommon and due to the pressure on University Hospital Galway. People in the north of Galway find it quicker to go to Castlebar than to go their city hospital. The management, medical staff in the emergency department and the Saolta University Health Care Group are doing everything they can and treating the issue with the urgency that is required. We need similar urgency from the HSE and the Department.

See this speech in context