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

The Limerick Leaderthis morning quoted the family of an elderly patient in University Hospital Limerick who said she is in conditions that resemble a cattle mart. Every day in October an average of 80 people are lingering on trolleys in this hospital. I have raised this in the Dáil since I was first elected in 2016. We are facing into the winter crisis where it is going to get worse. Tomorrow, my colleague, Deputy Cullinane, and I are meeting the CEO of the hospital and the unions there. Can the Tánaiste tell me what specifically the Government intends to do to ensure that this winter is not a nightmare winter for the patients, for those who must attend University Hospital Limerick and for the staff there, who do a tremendous job in very difficult situations? It is unfair in this day and age to allow 80 people to be on trolleys, on average, each day. Some 1,000 people waited on trolleys in September and 80 every day so far in October. As it obviously will get worse as we reach the winter peak, I want to know what the Government intends to do. I as that the Tánaiste please does not come back to me with statistics and figures that do not mean anything to people who are on trolleys.

See this speech in context