It is clear to see how much University Hospital Limerick has improved over the past year. I am so disappointed to hear this constant doing down of UHL, as its performance, particularly since the 96-bed block opened, has been quite extraordinary. We look at the HSE figures every day. This morning, there were 248 people on trolleys. Our threshold for what is tolerable is 280, so it is like a good summer's day today and we are right in the middle of flu. According to the HSE figures, which are what we track throughout…

I was not in the Seanad.

Believing.

We are not opposing the motion and we are grateful for the opportunity to clarify what has been a very confused and inaccurate set of comments over the recent period. It is really important that we take the opportunity because a lot of people have been very frightened by this debate. I note from the comments that have been made in the first 20 minutes of the debate that not one of the Deputies referenced the many constituents who have been paying for blister packs for some time. I know they have that information be…

Did the Deputy not hear what I said?

No, it was not.

Sorry, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, this has gone too far.

It is not accurate in any sense.

That is true, but that is just not accurate.

Withdraw what?

It is a basic set of facts.

I sincerely thank Deputies from the Labour Party for raising this important issue. It is an area on which I and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, are placing a strong and deliberate focus. As I listen to Deputies from the Labour Party going back over the history of this, I recall that they did so in partnership with Fine Gael and that we stood together to introduce many important social changes. In many respects, it might have been slightly harder for Fine Gael to do that with the Labour Party. A broad balance …

I thank Senators for the opportunity to discuss the HIQA review of urgent and emergency healthcare services in the mid-west. We continue to be fully committed to deliver the highest quality healthcare services nationwide, including at University Hospital Limerick and across the mid-west region. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work, expertise and consideration that HIQA invested in producing its recent review and the advice it gave me. I also acknowledge the significant work undertaken by the ESRI, w…

That is not the case.

The whole purpose of this is a patient safety issue. I have to correct a few things. Let me go through the patient safety issues. The whole approach is to try to make Limerick have enough capacity to have the same flow as other well-run hospitals like Waterford. Limerick is now an extremely well-run hospital. In the last 12 months, Ian Carter, Catherine Peters and Sandra Broderick have brought in really meaningful changes. All of the teams working there, all the consultants and all of the nurses deserve credit. The…

All I can say is we are in the process of looking at that. I do not want to say something that is wrong. I need to double-check, and I will correct what I say if necessary, but we are very much in the process of examining the safety, application and reimbursement process for the drug. That is the direction of it. I do not have my note to hand and if I am wrong on this, I will correct the record. However, that is certainly the intent.

I move: That Section 125A of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 (No. 31 of 1999) be amended, in subsection (1), to provide for the specified rate of stamp duty in respect of an insured person in respect of relevant contracts renewed or entered into on or after 1st January, 2026, and on or before 31st March, 2026, and on or after 1st April, 2026, in the manner and to the extent specified in the Act giving effect to this Resolution.

I thank the Deputy for the proposed amendment. The issue of reducing private income in public hospitals is one on which he and I agree. Indeed, we discussed it during the recent debate on the Estimates at the Oireachtas select committee. It is particularly pertinent given that this is the year it really kicks in. We have reached a critical mass of consultants on the public-only consultant contract and this is the year we expect to see it in our figures. We had a good discussion about that in the context of the Esti…

Funding of €27.4 billion, as the Deputy knows, has been allocated to the health service for 2026, an increase of 6.2%. Next year a new approach is being taken to funding allocation with health budgets being devolved to the HSE regions, giving them greater autonomy to meet local needs while holding them accountable for ambitious targets and national standards. The national cancer control programme will continue to lead on service design nationally and implementation of the national cancer strategy. The programme als…

We are talking about services that go beyond the cancer strategy. The Deputy correctly identified regional gaps that need to be filled by the regions, particularly where they are not meeting their targets or the same standard as other parts of the country. For example, this week, I was in Bantry, where there are two endoscopy suites, which are really important for bowel cancer and gastric cancers generally, but are under-utilised, although there are two theatres. That is a form of investment in cancer and in preven…