Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. Here is the problem. The capacity review says that we will need somewhere between 2,600 and 7,150 new beds. The ESRI analysis does not give us a bed number but it does give us a bed day number, so it is quite easy to turn that into beds. The Department's capacity review says somewhere between 2,600 and 7,150. The ESRI report broadly agrees with that. The capacity review says the following: "In practice the achievable shape of the future health system is likely to lie somewhere between the two extremes set out in this Capacity Review." That would mean 4,900 new beds if we take the midpoint. It describes the 2,600 as an extreme.

Is the Minister worried that the capital plan, which is being published by the Government and which states 2,600, is essentially taking the best possible conceivable outcome, an outcome that the capacity review itself describes as one of the extreme ranges and which has been provided for? Are we not setting ourselves up for continuing crisis if we assume we will only provide for the lowest number of beds that the PA Consulting report has come up with?

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