Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. As he rightly acknowledges, very substantial additional capacity has been added in UHL but as he also rightly says, still more is required. We are still looking at patients waiting on trolleys at a level we must move away from. In 2017 a new €24 million emergency department opened. Since the start of last year, 132 additional beds have been provided, which is a very significant number. As the Deputy referenced, 98 of those beds are in recent developments. On top of that, there is full planning permission for the 96-bed development and the project is currently out to tender. UHL is also accessing private hospital capacity as well.

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