Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Kelly for highlighting this issue. I know he is using his personal experiences as an example but I want to extend my sympathy and that of everyone in the House for the bereavement his wife experienced recently and indeed the loss of his father. I also wish his mother our best.

The generation of politicians who went before us gave an example of how to botch health reconfiguration. I genuinely believe the people of the mid-west were badly served by a reconfiguration that tried to change services on the promise of a better tomorrow, but did not put the better tomorrow in first. It is an example or case study of how not to do healthcare reconfiguration. If we are honest, since then, successive Governments have been trying to play catch-up on a variety of issues in the mid-west, particularly and acutely on the issue of bed capacity, but also on the issue of how to properly utilise Nenagh and Ennis hospitals, which are excellent hospitals that are eager to do more and are now beginning to do more.

The Deputy has been a vocal advocate on this issue and will continue to be. I accept the collective challenge we face is to address this once and for all together. The Minster for Health takes this seriously. She will be in Limerick next week for the opening of a new 96-bed block at UHL. I acknowledge the roles the Deputy and others played in that. There are also plans to significantly increase capacity further in the hospital. We all welcome that, but what the Deputy is saying is that, in itself, is not enough. I accept that too.

The HIQA report was commissioned, regardless of the Deputy's view on it. The Government was briefed on it by the Minister on 30 September. It outlines three potential options for consideration. One is to continue to expand the capacity at UHL's Dooradoyle site. I think we should do that anyway, to be honest. It is not either-or. The second is to extend the UHL hospital campus to comprise the existing Dooradoyle site and another site. The third is to develop a model 3 hospital in the HSE mid-west. Alongside these options, HIQA presented an extensive number of additional considerations. In fairness to HIQA, it did not just lob out three options. It went through, in quite a bit of detail, the pros and cons of each of the options. There are extensive findings. Quite a lot of work was done behind each of the potential options and the Minister will now fully consider them and report back to the Government. However, I will share the Deputy's recommendation with the Minister. There is a lot of logic in it.

We need to drive on quickly with extra capacity. The 96 beds are great, but we need to drive on the next bit and the bit after that and so on and then we need to recognise that in itself will not be enough.

There is a compelling case in relation to the option identified in the report around a new level 3 hospital for the mid-west. That needs to be looked into. We all know that will not happen today or tomorrow so how do we make sure we put the capacity in in the meantime? I will ask the Minister to keep the Deputy and colleagues from the mid-west informed on this issue as she deliberates.

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