Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I acknowledge that he has raised this with me previously to seek additional interns or, indeed, an intern allocation for this year. I have looked into the matter. The good news, as the Deputy will be aware, is that Cavan-Monaghan hospital has had a very significant increase in budget, in staffing and in physical capacity and infrastructure. The Deputy should rest assured that the Government will continue to invest in Cavan and Monaghan hospitals. I have asked the Department to revert to me in terms of the allocation of medical interns for this year. We now have a record number of hospital consultants in the country and a record number of non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHDs, as well. We are looking into this to see what can be done for Cavan-Monaghan in terms of medical internship deployment for the next round.

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