Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here to discuss this matter.

I am quite sure the Minister of State is aware of the ongoing issue relating to the emergency department in Beaumont Hospital. Over the past number of years, as an active representative and a Member of the Oireachtas, I have visited the accident and emergency department in Beaumont Hospital, I have met staff there and I have met senior management on a number of occasions.

What the senior management have told me in stark terms is that the accident and emergency department is physically not fit for purpose. There are other issues around problems in the department. There are staffing issues and also the fact the demographic around Beaumont Hospital is of a particularly elderly nature. It is not only the physical issue of the department, but that is part of the issue. These are eminent staff who are experts in the field. They know their hospital well and they care for their patients extremely well. Anybody who has visited it will attest to the fact that the physical environment of the accident and emergency department is not up to standard and if the senior management team in the hospital is saying that it is not safe and they cannot stand over it, clearly something has to happen.

We are obviously now in a period where the Exchequer is in a healthier place. The management of the hospital has put together a plan. They have a vision of investment in the accident and emergency department that can bring it up to standard and provide a much better service for the local community and the Dublin and wider region. They have estimated its cost at €45 million. The previous Government, in the guise of the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, and myself, met the senior management. We were in a position to commit to working with the senior management of Beaumont Hospital to deliver this plan, that the investment would happen, and that the accident and emergency department would be reconfigured and reconstructed to be a much better physical fit for the hospital. I have been running a local campaign and constituents who want to see this investment happen have been engaging with it.

Has the Minister for Health and the Department committed to this €45 million plan? Has the Minister met senior management? Is it part of the Estimates process? Is it something that will be delivered in the short to medium term because anybody who has visited the accident and emergency department in Beaumont will realise that the situation there cannot continue? While I did not see anything in the Estimates process and the budget announcements regarding Beaumont Hospital, I was eager to have this discussion today because, before we head into the winter months, it is important for the staff in Beaumont and for the wider community to know that the Government takes this issue seriously and wants to deliver a better service for that hospital.