Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-11
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Patrick O'Donovan (FG), Limerick County

I thank Deputy Sheehan for raising an issue that is very important to both of us, the current situation in University Hospital Limerick. Deputy Sheehan was at the opening of the 96-bed block with me and others. He would agree that there have been substantial improvements made in University Hospital Limerick over the past number of years. It is starting from a really low base, there is no doubt about it. Our colleague from the mid-west, the former Minister, Alan Kelly, has referred to this on many occasions as well. The reconfiguration of the midwestern hospitals group a number of years ago has left a negative legacy with regard to healthcare provision in the mid-west that several Governments, including the current one, have had to try to unwind and deal with. The reality is that over the past number of years we have had a substantial deficiency as regards bed capacity in the mid-west that this Government is dealing with. The new 96-bed unit is open. The second 96-bed unit, which Deputy can see himself as he passes, in Dooradoyle is well under way. Planning permission for that was more difficult than we expected. There is an options appraisal, as the Deputy pointed out, that is with the Minister for Health. It is the Minister for Health who will ultimately bring forward proposals with regard to this. The Minister was in Limerick, where she has arrived unannounced. Oftentimes Ministers are criticised for coming to the hospital on an announced basis. She has arrived in on an unannounced basis and has seen first-hand what Deputy Sheehan and I have seen. I do not in any way dispute what the Deputy said earlier, but the numbers in UHL are going in the right direction. Today there are 26 people on trolleys. That is 26 too many. Ideally there should be zero, but it is not that long ago that the Deputy and I would remember that number being three, four or five times that amount. Bed capacity is the route to this. I pay tribute to the staff of the hospital, many of whom are my neighbours and Deputy Sheehan's neighbours. They have had to work in appalling conditions over many years while we had to grapple with the fact that there were successive elements of underinvestment. There is substantial investment in UHL, and I am glad the Deputy has recognised it, but there is also an options appraisal. The Minister for Health will bring forward proposals with regard to options A, B and C. She has already alluded to the fact that A and B will likely continue.
There will be more room at Dooradoyle and other units in Ennis and Nenagh will continue to be invested in. The surgical unit up at the Mount is currently well under way and the Bon Secours private hospital is open. Significant investment from the public and private sectors is helping to transform the mid-west. We have also seen significant investment in St. Camillus's, St. Ita's and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital. This is all improving the delivery of healthcare for the mid-west. I am not for one minute saying we are finished; there is further work that needs to be delivered on this.
I will come back to the flu question in my next reply.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11