Healthcare Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I totally agree with the Deputy and I think we will get there with Galway and Cork much more quickly. I would like to discuss with all Deputies options around Dublin because clearly we have the option in relation to Connolly hospital. The Deputy may have noticed that we put in some high-dependency unit, HDU, beds in advance because that is really going to be an important enabler. We did that in the past number of weeks. We put the staff in to have significantly expanded HDU capacity in Connolly hospital with a view to where that goes for the elective.
It is well worth us considering constructively the best other use of brownfield space that is available within other Dublin hospitals, how we might consider that as alternative elective capacity and what we do with Crumlin. It is a useful open conversation that we should have. More than anything else, I need Deputies' help with the implementation of the public-only consultant contract and five over seven.
I cannot have the NTPF buying activity in hospitals from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and not have consultants rostered at those times. That intersection is going to be really important between surgical hubs, the NTPF and the actual rostering. I am going to need Deputies' help.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21