Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-14
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

Yes, we can. Indeed, over the last number of years, we have dramatically increased capacity. Deputy Bacik mentioned the beds but she forgot to mention that, by the end of 2024 alone, we had 1,300 additional beds in the system. As the Deputy will know, during the Covid period, we took the opportunity to dramatically increase bed capacity in our hospital system, particularly in the critical care area, where there was significant increase in the number of beds. We expanded our ICU capacity by about 28%, which is significant.
Obviously, health is a comprehensive area, so primary care is critical. We now have 180 primary care centres - that is 51 extra since 2020 - and we will continue to work on that. We are progressing the development of four elective hospitals, which I think will be very important in the context of waiting times, and the surgical hubs that the Minister has committed to. As the Deputy will know, the first surgical hub at Mount Carmel has opened and that has already had a very significant impact on waiting times in that area.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-14