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

I raise the issue of University Hospital Limerick with the Taoiseach. He was the health Minister for four years. One hundred and five people are on trolleys in the hospital today, 7,308 people have been on trolleys there already this year, and we will exceed the record number reached last year, namely 21,409. When we talk about the number of people on trolleys, we sometimes forget they are people we know. They are neighbours and friends and, in many cases, family members. What is the Taoiseach going to do? Is sorting out University Hospital Limerick going to be a priority for him, or will we have a worse year this year? From the Taoiseach’s four years as Minister for Health, he does not leave me with much confidence that he will prioritise this issue and treat it urgently. What is occurring is not fair. In the past three days, there have been 106 people on trolleys, on average. This is simply not good enough.

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