Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Deputy to let me finish. We have to do this in a holistic way. We cannot go around just picking bits and pieces. We have already opened 200 additional full-time beds this winter which are separate from transitional step-down care beds. We will continue that programme and we hope to do so in the coming year. By April of this year the HSE had submitted a series of suggested openings for us, which are currently being considered. As the Deputy will be aware, funding of €40 million has been made available as part of the winter initiative to open beds specifically to deal with the trolley crisis.

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