Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join the Deputy in offering my condolences to Aoife's family and friends. I met her mum and dad at the start of the year and offered my apologies as well as condolences because she was failed and she should not have died. It is heartbreaking.

The answer to the challenge of overcrowding in the emergency department in UHL is capacity and reform. We have made sure that UHL is the hospital that has had the biggest increase in money and staff in the country. It has had a bigger increase in budget and staff than any other hospital. The Deputy quite rightly asked about beds. To date, it has had an increase of 108 beds, 98 ward beds and ten critical care beds.

I was in UHL about four weeks ago, and we launched an additional 86 beds for this year, in advance of the first 96-bed block coming online. I have also authorised the building of the second 96-bed block as well. Of the 86 beds for this year, 70 of them will revert to the communities in counties Tipperary and Clare when the permanent beds in Limerick are opened. Some 16 of them will remain, which increases the net amount as well. The numbers are as follows, specifically in terms of the beds. We have already added 108. We have 86 more coming this year, so coming into next winter we should be up by 194 beds. Then on top of that there is a second 96-bed block being built as well. The total increase will be approximately 290 beds. As well as that, we have been investing in the community and in Ennis, Nenagh, St. John's and Croom.

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