Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue regarding capacity is the real issue. Everybody accepts that, but it cannot be solved overnight. This year, increasing capacity is a priority for Government. In the past 12 months, an additional 240 beds have been opened, and a further 79 additional beds are planned for the fourth quarter of 2018 and early 2019. That includes an additional 30-bed ward in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, a 40-bed modular ward in South Tipperary General Hospital, and four high-dependency beds in the Mater hospital and Cork University Hospital, respectively. In addition, the new emergency department planned for Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda is due to open in early 2019.

We accept that there is a need for investment and expansion, and to increase capacity. There is a recruitment and retention issue that we are also looking to try to address but the idea that we can pretend that rostering is not an issue and that in the coming weeks and months we should not be preparing for that and having an honest conversation about it, with people who are well able to engage in that honest conversation, is political correctness gone mad.

See this speech in context