Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I absolutely acknowledge that the Deputy is putting us on notice about this issue, issues in the hospital in Galway and the health care system in general. There has been considerable investment in University Hospital Galway in recent years.

The budget has been increased year on year for the last three, four or, perhaps, five years and there are more staff. The new 75-bed block, all individual rooms, which was opened in the last 18 months is a good addition to the hospital too. We have never had a bigger health budget than we have now and we have never had more staff working in the health service than we have now, but I appreciate that it is not enough. We need to increase the number of staff and budgets for health care further. All of this is provided for in the budget to which we agreed only a week or two ago. We need to add more beds to the hospital system, as well as investing in primary care services. When it comes to the hospital in Galway specifically, there is another new block in planning - a new emergency department - which I accept is long overdue. As part of the new block, there will be maternity and paediatric services also. We need to get it through planning and start building it.

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