Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Together with the Cathaoirleach and others, I welcome the Estonian ambassador. I ask that she convey our thanks to the Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, who is from a small country and has shown tremendous leadership in standing up to the aggression of Russia and in rallying European troops to assist the Ukrainian people in their efforts to fight off this outrageous, illegal war. It is worth noting this as we mark the first anniversary of the illegal invasion.

On a more domestic matter, I would like a debate with the Minister for Health and the Department to address the continued overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick, UHL. We discussed this matter in the Seanad a number of weeks ago. The proposals put forward by the HSE for the greater utilisation of Ennis hospital, Nenagh hospital and St. John's Hospital were meant to take some of the pressure off but they have not done so. We have had record numbers of people waiting on trolleys in UHL in recent days. Something even more negative has happened. As a result of the utilisation of Ennis hospital, day surgeries there have been cancelled today for the third day in a row. There is a 12-bed ward in Ennis hospital for day surgery, which treats approximately 40 people per week. Three of those days have been cancelled this week and we do not know when the next sessions will take place. This also happened a number of weeks ago. People who need treatment are being pushed out in order to deal with the overflow from Limerick. This sounded good to some people at the time but it has created a bigger problem. The delay in day care intervention, which these patients are now not getting, will undoubtedly lead to more people attending the accident and emergency department at a future date. It is not solving the problem. It sounds good on paper. While some people got excited about it and thought it was a great solution, the practical implications are that there will be negative outcomes for those depending on day surgery. It is going to cause further problems in the future. We have to begin a discussion on bed capacity in the region. We have to look at emergency measures and set aside the delays associated with planning and design. What we need is more bed capacity and we need it now.