Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Huge resources have been given to the hospital. Since 2015 the number of beds has gone from 357 to 478. A total of €60 million has been spent. It is wrong is to say the hospital is under-resourced. It is not. Nobody is applying for the jobs that are being advertised. This is the difficulty. We need to examine the management in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital Navan. Can a new synergy be found in terms of corporate governance and medical governance to allow patients to be kept in Navan and dealt with by the experts with a higher level of knowledge who are in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital? This is the way forward. It will keep patients in Navan and make sure they are properly looked after. It would also relieve the pressure on Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, which is obviously significant this time of the year.

See this speech in context