Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Some 97 people are on trolleys in the University Hospital Limerick emergency department today. It is a disgrace. It is indefensible and a poor reflection on us as a society. It is an indictment of our health service and our Government. In spite of tens of millions of euro being spent building modular units and additional accommodation, there is a situation in Limerick where there are more people from the mid-west on trolleys than anywhere else in the country. I want to know why. Is it a lack of funding, resources, available nurses, beds or Covid? Is it due to a difficulty with management or is it down to incompetence? The people of the mid-west deserve answers at this stage. The only way to find out why 97 of our citizens are sitting on trolleys in Limerick today is if there is an independent inquiry that does not involve people from the UL hospital group or its management. It is not good enough. I am blue in the face standing up here year after year, month after month, highlighting this. The people of Limerick, Clare, Tipperary and the mid-west deserve better from this Government and our health service. I want answers and the only way to get those is an independent inquiry. It could be HIQA or an outside agency, but it must be independent because we need answers. It is not good enough, it is indefensible, it is not acceptable and it cannot continue.