Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

The Minister is welcome to the House.The meeting the Minister had with representatives from the mid-west yesterday and her opening statement here today show that she understands the urgency and purpose of the work she is doing, that she gets how important it is and that it is receiving the detailed attention at the highest level it deserves. I pay tribute to HIQA. It produced a very good report, which is informing the Minister. Many of us in the mid-west would have been able to summarise the recommendations ourselves from our ongoing engagements and experience over the years.

I have been a Member of this House since 2011. UHL is the one issue I have spoken about more than any other, both here in the House and at the Joint Committee on Health. It has been utterly frustrating to hear, week in, week out, month in, month out for year and years, the stories of people who have had negative experiences in the emergency department at UHL through no fault of the staff but because the accommodation and bed capacity was not there, leading to backlogs in the emergency department. We saw the tragic consequences of that when a citizen from my county lost her life unnecessarily. As a result of what happened, a lot of good is now happening. The new 96-bed block has made a significant difference. The facts and figures speak for themselves. As the Minister correctly said, it is still too many people. We still have not hit peak flu season. I take this opportunity to encourage everyone who has not got the flu vaccine to do so because it is the one way we can help to deal with the numbers in our emergency departments. The 96-bed block is up and running and making a difference.

I am very pleased that it is hoped that the accelerated critical infrastructure will include health infrastructure. I have no doubt the Minister has articulated that point loudly and clearly in the necessary corners of Government. With that memo on accelerated critical infrastructure protocols and so on being brought to Cabinet next week, I hope the Minister will be in a position to bring a memo to cabinet about options A and B the following week. I hope she will be able to refer to a process for examining option C as well. However, the critical thing at this moment in time is options A and B because they will eventually lead to option C. I know the Minister has committed to all three options. I am interested in hearing how we are going to develop both option A and option B. I believe that more can be achieved on the site at Dooradoyle. There is talk of a 96-bed block. It is my understanding that the history behind the number 96 is that the pocket of funding for the block had to be kept at €200 million. Perhaps that can now be scaled up. Perhaps the next 96-bed block could have another floor or two, adding another 15 or 20 beds. That is the type of outside-the-box thinking the Minister is very open to. There is this whole idea of capping funding at €200 million when we all know that bed capacity is needed and that funding is available for it. It is just about the process. Beds cannot be magically delivered overnight. There has to be a process. However, we can accelerate the implementation of option B. I know the Minister is fully committed to that. Again, on behalf of the people of the mid-west, I thank the Minister for her urgency and commitment in this regard.