Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Mac Lochlainn. I appreciate his frustration. I also appreciate his role as a public representative; he is doing a very fine job. He has brought this issue to the notice of the Seanad with passion and conviction. I agree with him and I support him on the principle of opening transitional care beds. That is the way to deal with the issue in the future and that is the way to take the pressure off emergency departments. We need to invest more in that area.

Last year, an additional €30 million was invested in transitional beds. However, this was not sufficient to open additional beds in all the locations in which we wanted to open them. The HSE must work to strict criteria in deciding where to open these beds. For a variety of reasons, it is not always possible to open beds. In my constituency, there are 25 empty beds that are not in operation due to union issues and objections. There are a number of considerations involved - I am not suggesting that this is an issue with Letterkenny - but there are myriad reasons why beds can and cannot be opened at a given time and why beds were opened in some places and not in others. The budget was €30 million in 2017 and an allocation of an additional €40 million was made in the 2018 budget to deal with the winter overcrowding in this coming year. I cannot give the Senator any commitment because, as he knows, this is an operational matter for the HSE. However, I can guarantee that the position of Letterkenny University Hospital will be looked at very seriously again. As resource allow and as other matters fall into line, I hope we can open additional step-down care beds in Letterkenny. That is the practical solution to the problem.