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

I assume the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, is out of the country. Obviously, he should be here. I had thought I would have a chance to speak to him personally about the issue I am about to raise. I have put forward numerous Topical Issue matters and asked numerous priority questions and the Minister has never been in the Chamber to answer them.

How does the Government intend to address the chronic overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick? Will the Minister of State outline why the full capacity protocol, which is supposedly an emergency measure, is in use at the hospital every single day? Perhaps the Minister of State will let the citizens of Limerick and the mid-west region know when the 96-bed extension and 60-bed modular unit will be built and operational to ease the severe overcrowding that is now the norm in UHL.

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