Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

They do indeed do exceptional work. The proposition of elective hospitals is one being deployed in Cork, Galway and Dublin. It is international best practice and is going well where it is used. Tallaght has secured an elective-only site in its area. The idea is to separate scheduled and unscheduled care as that has good outcomes.

I take the point about having a more ambitious plan than just building an elective hospital. The Saolta group shares that view and we had a detailed discussion about the matter during the week.

To finish on a positive note on emergency departments, when I was in opposition, last year and in previous year, the Deputy and I had pushed hard on the issue of trolley counts and people, particularly older individuals, waiting on trolleys, sometimes for days, including in Galway. It is only the second week of December and still early days, but I am glad to report that so far this year while 90% of people are coming to emergency departments and 90% being admitted relative to last year because of the good work done on the €600 million winter plan, including investment for Galway. The trolley count is at less than 30% week for week compared with last year. Many of those on trolleys are for shorter and shorter times and are in more appropriate conditions suitable to the Covid environment.

See this speech in context