South Tipperary General Hospital is about to enter its 19th month of being forced to operate under the HSE's full capacity protocol. According to Paud O'Regan, a consultant who has been working at the hospital for a long time, the 79-bed medical department has been working at 150% capacity for a dangerously long period. Given that the new Taoiseach was Minister for Health, visited the hospital at the time and introduced the full capacity protocol, he will be aware that it was issued in spite of overwhelming objections from the INMO and all nurse and other trade union representative organisations. It results in the placing of additional patients in inappropriate areas of hospitals, leading to overcrowding on wards, not just emergency departments. It creates overcrowding problems in two areas of the hospital, instead of one. Organisations such as the INMO and emergency medicine practitioners regularly damn the protocol because, in their view, the care of all patients is compromised by this practice which creates a loss of dignity for patients and an increased risk of cross-infection. There are 19 patients on trolleys today in South Tipperary General Hospital, STGH, in this fine high summer weather.

The longest day of the year was only yesterday.

With regard to providing additional support to STGH in the short term, I was advised by the Minister for Health that the HSE is working towards additional surge capacity - these are wonderful words - through the fit-out of additional space on the first floor of the hospital to alleviate pressure on the accident and emergency department under the national framework for alternative accommodation on hospital sites. All we get is words, analogies and acronyms. This additional capacity was expected to be available from May and could be used to accommodate up to 11 trolley bays on a corridor. Yesterday, the Minister told me that he has not even begun recruiting to staff this accommodation.

We have been recruiting.

It is almost certain that the so-called modular patient unit designed and created by my colleague, which was supposed to be delivered last October at the latest, will not be in place this year, not to mind next year. How can any hospital be expected to cope under such conditions? We have years of acknowledgement of the capacity issues in the hospital but there has been almost zero impact in reducing numbers of patients on trolleys. I would like to praise the consultants and all the front-line staff who try to deal with patients under those conditions. They have been working for 19 months under a full capacity protocol, FCP, which is another great acronym drawn up by the HSE. What does that mean?

It is not an acronym.

That protocol is for an emergency, not a 19-month period. This is not acceptable. Cashel hospital is lying idle up the road and we have brought the Minister to see it. Yesterday, the Taoiseach quoted John F. Kennedy but I have another quote from him from 1962: "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic". It is not acceptable that we have to put up with this. Deputy Kelleher outlined earlier what happened down the road in Waterford. We are not second-class citizens in Tipperary or Waterford and we need this hospital to be included in the new capital programme this year.

The Deputy did not mention The Who.

The Deputy tabled a parliamentary question on this yesterday. He and Deputy Lowry have continually raised this issue and both Deputies have had continual discussions with the Minister. They invited the Minister to Tipperary and he visited the hospital.

I was there as well.

Local public representatives were recently in the hospital to see the progress and to be brought up to date on the plans and the actions the Minister has taken in respect of the capacity issues the Deputy has raised. The Minister recognises that action needs to be taken and the Deputy will acknowledge that he has taken action. He outlined to the Deputy yesterday the provision of 11 new trolley bays on the first floor of the hospital, which are being put in place to alleviate pressure on the accident and emergency department. The recruitment process has been undertaken to provide the staff to support this.

There are no staff.

The process is under way and the unit is expected to open in September 2017. The Minister is also examining the additional supports that can be put in place for Our Lady's Hospital Cashel, because, as the Deputy rightly said, that could also help to alleviate pressures on the accident and emergency department of STGH. There has been progress. The Minister is examining the provision of additional modular units across the country and Tipperary could benefit from that as well.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

A master plan is being put in place, for which procurement has commenced, to ensure development can take place on the STGH campus. The Minister is keenly aware of the issues raised by the Deputy and Deputy Lowry. His plan is being implemented and he has taken action. That will begin to deal with the issues the Deputy has outlined relating to the capacity of the hospital.

The myth has been peddled by the Government and the previous Government that the trolley crisis is getting better but we all know it is not. Deputy Barry mentioned The Who. I quoted lyrics from the band last week: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss". Now meet the new Tánaiste and the new Minister for Health; they are the same as the old Tánaiste and the old Minister for Health

With regard to temporary patient accommodation solutions for STGH, the Minister confirmed in reply to a parliamentary question I tabled only eight weeks ago that the mini-tender procurement process for the hospital had still not even been finalised 18 months later.

The Minister in his reply also made it clear that decisions will be made based only on the outcome of that mini-tender procurement process.

It is all baloney. This is an indictment of the lack of HSE will to escalate this issue, particularly since there is, at least on paper, an explicit acceptance from the HSE and the Department that South Tipperary General Hospital has specific challenges in regard to capacity. That is not acceptable. We have to be included in the mid-term review of the investment programme. We have been neglected for too long. All the platitudes, mini-tenders and hotel accommodation in the world are no good for the sick people of Tipperary or the staff at South Tipperary General Hospital, who work so hard. We need new ideas. It cannot be the same old boss, old Tánaiste and old Minister.

The Deputy has to recognise, first, that this issue is being taken extremely seriously. As I said, Deputy McGrath and Deputy Lowry have raised it continuously, as has Deputy Healy.

I thank the Tánaiste.

The Deputy is welcome. It is on the priority list. It is clear that the initiatives that require capital investment are regarded as a priority by the Minister.

In terms of the mid-term review of capital projects, that clearly will be there on the list, although there have been no decisions yet in regard to it. There is a plan for the 11 extra beds to deal with the demands on the emergency department and a masterplan for the entire hospital, as well as a plan for the campus. The hospital will also benefit from the review in regard to the modular units on which the Minister is working.

It is recognised. It is wrong of the Deputy to say it has not been seen as a priority. Action is being taken. Everything I have outlined to the Deputy-----

Show me the money.

-----shows him that plans are underway and that capacity will come on stream in the time ahead. I recognise the Deputy's passion in this regard and his wish to see action. The Minister is responding to that.