Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. It is my first time speaking here since his appointment. I warmly congratulate him. His expertise in his area was well recognised in the previous Oireachtas. I have no doubt he is going to make a significant impact in the coming months and I wish him the best of luck. I stand with Senator Dee Ryan on the issue that has dominated politics and healthcare in my region of Clare and the entire mid-west area for the last number of years. In spite of the tens of millions of euro invested in UHL, capacity being increased and the budgets made available, we still have an average of about 100 people a night waiting on trolleys in UHL. Before the last local elections the Minister made an announcement that HIQA was going to be asked to do a capacity review on the ED provisions in the mid-west region. That review is ongoing. It is a year and a half since the announcement, which was in May 2024. It is now almost October of 2025 and we do not know what HIQA has recommended about additional capacity for emergency department provision in the mid-west. It is not good enough that it takes HIQA a year and a half to carry out a review when most of us know what the answer is, namely, that we need an additional emergency department in the mid-west region. What I want to know is very simple. When are the Minister and HIQA going to publish the findings of the review into accident and emergency care in the mid-west? It is needed. We are heading into a winter where it is going to be very serious and we need a pathway and a framework for moving forward.