Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I have a very clear ask of the Taoiseach. I want further investment in our two hospitals in County Louth, namely, Louth County Hospital in Dundalk and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. As the Taoiseach knows, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda is completely overwhelmed. It was never designed to cope with the massive population growth that has been seen across County Louth, County Meath and the north-east region. Sadly, elective surgeries are sometimes delayed. Waiting lists are growing. Patients are left waiting and procedures that should be routine are being delayed.

We need increased numbers of staff to ensure that care can be completed and delivered seven days a week. The staff in both hospitals work incredibly well under the serious pressure they are experiencing. They deliver high-quality healthcare but, because there is an inadequate bed base in Drogheda, we are at a huge loss. Louth County Hospital sits there and is underutilised despite having infrastructure, a footprint and a location that could potentially support regional elective care.

I welcome recent projects such as the ENT procedures, the EuroFlow clinic and the new procedure room that is planned for next year. These are steps in the right direction but we can and must go further. Louth County Hospital has succeeded in everything it has been asked to do in recent years, going way beyond expectations and delivering high-quality care to patients.

I want to look at every avenue alongside the HSE and the RSCI to see how we can create more capacity in both hospitals to deliver more specialties and more care for people. Potentially, we could look at Dundalk becoming a surgical hub in the north east. As we know, hubs are being rolled out in Cork, Galway, Dublin and Waterford but there is nothing in the entire north east region. A surgical hub in Dundalk could take pressure off Drogheda. It would allow a focus on acute and emergency care and would provide faster and fairer access to elective procedures for patients. This is a suggestion. The basic problem is that Drogheda does not have the capacity to deal with the patients it has in a growing region. For example, Louth has had an 8% increase in population since 2016. Dundalk south is the most populous LEA in the county, with more than 40,000 people, but the hospital infrastructure has practically stood still. I ask the Taoiseach for a positive and huge investment in our hospitals in the near future.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for her very precise and clear presentation of the needs in the north east in respect of acute hospital services. It has long been a significant issue, going back decades, in terms of location and so on. Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital has been the acute centre and has emerged as the acute centre over that period. There has been substantial investment in both Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Louth County Hospital over the past five years, in particular. There have been significant extensions added to the adult and paediatric emergency departments, 84 new single rooms and a state-of-the-art theatre suite with five operating theatres in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. Both hospitals are planning for population growth. There is not just a growing younger population, but a growing population of over-75s as well.

The Deputy has correctly identified some of the developments taking place in Louth Count Hospital such as the ENT theatre access, the EuroFlow clinic that was introduced and now the new procedure room, which will open in 2026. The Minister is listening and I do not want to take over her portfolio but throughout the country, we have been looking at how we can bring services to elective facilities. We have done this in many places around the country to reduce the burden on the major acute and tertiary centres. That work is ongoing. There is a lot that can be done, for example, endoscopy and various other services that can be rolled out, if the space is available.

Regarding surgery, it is important to have the required skills and a critical mass in terms of both volume of patients and the multidisciplinary teams that are required to deliver optimal surgical services in given hospitals. I am familiar with both hospitals. The surgical units are a relatively new concept. They are under development. I take the Deputy's point that the north east does not seem to be in the plan, but over time, that is something that can be looked at. Recently, we made proposals for the north west. They are all at an embryonic stage of development. Where they are developed, they work very well. We will continue to examine this and keep it under review. I understand the reasons she is putting forward this proposition.

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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My ask is that the north east region be looked at in terms of the population growth. Thanks to this and the previous Governments, thousands of homes are being built, particularly in south Louth and north Drogheda. Those houses will be filled by people who will need healthcare. There will be the older demographic along with young families who are moving into the area. Forward planning is critically important. Surgical hubs are in an early phase around the country. This could be an answer to a lot of problems in the north east and I think it is a valuable suggestion that I am glad to have had the opportunity to talk to the Taoiseach about again.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I think we have been very effective in creating new services in the non-tertiary centres. For example, there are some very good developments in Roscommon. In Cork, the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital has de facto become an elective hospital over time. We had that dotted around the country. Mount Carmel Community Hospital is another good example.

What the Deputy is saying has merit but the detail of that would have to be worked out and a lot of work would need to be done before we could get to the stage where I could give an affirmative response. There were proposals a decade ago in terms of the north east that caused enormous tensions and argumentation - I do not know if the Deputy wants to go back to that - as to the location of a new hospital for the north east. If we can build on existing services, we will have a better outline on how we can improve things.