Dáil debates

Tuesday, 22 November 2022

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Hospital Overcrowding

Photo of Marian HarkinMarian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State spoke about three issues. She spoke about the winter plan. Seven of the ten actions involve recruiting extra staff for SUH. When I wrote to the HSE asking how many extra staff had been recruited, I received a response not two weeks ago that told me that it was expecting to start recruiting soon. We are in the middle of winter so there is no winter plan here.

Second, the Minister of State tells me that the budget allocation in four years has increased by 25%. I do not know how much the health budget has increased by but I guarantee that it is way more than that so giving us raw figures without looking at how they compare elsewhere is meaningless. I did not have time to check those figures but I will.

Finally, the Minister of State spoke about the new surgical block. To be fair, the Taoiseach said today the issue from hereon is delivery and whether we can accelerate the timeline for construction. The question is, will we?

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