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

I stood in this Chamber six years ago, in May 2017, with a different Minister of State sitting opposite, when we in the mid-west region were looking forward to the imminent opening of the new emergency department in University Hospital Limerick, UHL. None of us was naive enough to believe it would solve all the problems in the hospital, or even in the emergency department, but we were led to believe there would be a major change. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, expressed concerns at the time that up to 24 people would be left lingering on trolleys every single day at UHL. The Minister of State who sat that day in exactly the same seat in which the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is sitting tonight rubbished what I and the INMO were saying. The union was saying 24 people would be on trolleys at UHL. Moving forward to 2023, there have, on average, been 100 people on trolleys every day for the past month.

We have had the worst year ever and we are going to have the worst month ever. We will probably end up with 20,000-plus people on trolleys at UHL. These are people who have been assessed as being in need of a bed but there is no bed available for them. I was in the hospital recently visiting people and it is absolutely chaotic. I saw trolleys smashing into each other and trolleys on hallways, in storerooms and everywhere else. Staff are working as best they can in these absolutely overcrowded conditions. It is so bad at the moment that one will see medical devices, bandages and other equipment all over the hospital, in wards and corridors. It is no exaggeration to say that every month in the years since the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, took office, the numbers have worsened. Given the crisis and the impact on citizens, it would have been helpful if the Minister had come to the Chamber to hear at first hand what is going in at UHL. However, he has done the same as the previous Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, who also ducked the issue and did not come to the House. I have been raising this matter on the Topical Issue Debate since 2016. In my maiden speech in the Dáil, I spoke about the situation at UHL. I have raised it under Questions on Policy or Legislation and every other way in which I could raise it. Yet, here we are with no concrete answers and no solutions.

People are really frustrated and at their wit's end. There is a sense that nothing will be done. The hospital staff are doing an absolutely amazing job. It is clear from HIQA reports and internal hospital reports that there simply are not enough staff. The Minister of State is well aware that if people are waiting on trolleys for a certain number of hours, some will die. That is probably happening every day in our hospitals. It is an indictment of the Government. There is no sense from the people I speak to in Limerick and the mid-west region that their concerns are being taken on board and the issue is being treated with the severity and urgency that is needed. We talk about long-term plans but there is nothing in the here and now.

We have just come out of a summer in which we had the worst figures for the number of people on trolleys in June, July, August and September, and we are now facing into what probably will be the worst three months, which means we will probably tip over the 20,000 figure. That is an absolute scandal and everybody in government should be ashamed of themselves. They have not grasped the issue with the severity and urgency that are needed. I am interested to hear the Minister of State's response. In fairness to him, it is not his fault and it is not his Department, but he probably will read out the same statement I have been listening to for the past five, six or seven years. It is deeply frustrating, not just for me but for the people who are lingering in the hospital and for their family members who are distressed. I am sure this issue is raised with every Deputy in the mid-west region. I am contacted every day by people who are at their wit's end because there are just too many patients presenting to our hospital. This all goes back to the reconfiguration of the three hospitals in 2009, which was a catastrophic mistake.

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