Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his answer. I expected statistics, including the extra 78 beds, to be mentioned. It is completely understandable that there will be emergencies and pressures at times. There will be times when the hospital is overcrowded due to certain circumstances, whether it be a flu epidemic or respiratory issues. However, this is not something that happened in January or February 2024 or December 2023. In 2018, in an article in the Irish Independent, the current Minister of State, Deputy Jack Chambers, raised exactly the same questions as those I am asking today. He stated that hospitals should not have to suspend vital screening of patients that may show up cancer. He also stated:

These day wards and beds are inappropriate to be used as a spillover for seriously ill inpatients being admitted to overcrowded A&Es. It is particularly troubling when this surge in emergency departments' admissions was entirely predictable.

That was in 2018. The INMO warns year after year that this crisis will happen - not that it has happened but that it will happen. Staff who are working in these departments are telling us that this is not just a problem in the winter of 2023 or 2024 but is an annual winter issue. In fact, winter does not stop in some of these hospitals.

While I understand that some work has been done and a limited number of extra beds have been provided, it is clear that what is being done is not enough when we have people in completely inappropriate places, there are no alarms, no extra staff and no way for people to shower or access toilet facilities. This is in a modern hospital in this day and age. The Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, made those comments in 2018, so this is not something new. It happens year after year. I guarantee, if we are here this time next year, that I will probably seek a Topical Issue debate on exactly the same issue unless we get to grips with it.

See this speech in context