Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are acutely aware of the issue. The Government’s plan is to end winter trolley crises permanently. The way we are doing that is adding more permanent capacity to our public health service than ever before, such as adding many thousands of healthcare professionals and by the end of the year more than 1,000 acute beds. We are ahead of the 2018 capacity review on hospital beds, critical care and many other areas.

However, in the context of Covid, Ireland, Australia, the UK and many countries across the world are suffering intense pressures through the winter. This will be a difficult winter. The Government has deployed a huge amount of money. There is an all hands on deck effort being put in place by the HSE. All 29 hospitals have tailored winter plans. They are working directly with community care and nursing homes to get patients out of hospital as quickly as possible. However, this winter, as in the UK and France and as has happened in Australia and other countries, it will be difficult due to this huge additional burden that Covid has caused and will continue to cause.

See this speech in context