The number of patients on trolleys in Cork University Hospital, CUH, this week alone has been in excess of 60 each day. All scientific evidence will show that the longer someone is on a trolley, the poorer the patient outcome. This is also the case when there is a shortage of nursing staff. There are 60 vacancies at present in CUH and the office of the HSE CEO, Paul Reid, has directed that no recruitment can continue without approval. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, is calling on the Minister to release the funding for the winter plan and to make funding available immediately for CUH in order that the vacant posts can be filled as soon as possible. There seems to be a difficulty in drawing down the €26 million for the winter plan and they have not received it yet. Is it possible for the Minister to contact Mr. Reid's office and make sure these 60 posts can be filled as soon as possible? It takes the pressure off the whole system.

On the same matter, I want to raise the issue of University Hospital Limerick. The Minister will not be surprised to hear me saying that. Last year 11,437 people were on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick. We have passed that out already this year. In October, 1,450 people were on trolleys, which was an average of 70 people a day. Unfortunately, 70 people are on trolleys now as we are in the Chamber. The Minister recently said to my colleague, Deputy O'Reilly, in a committee, that the modular unit of 60 beds will have no effect this winter as it will not be built or delivered by then. What specific plan does the Minister have for this winter in order that there will not be 70 people every single day? Will he give the people in Limerick the health service they deserve so they are not packed in like sardines as the Minister has seen himself?

I thank the Deputies. The €26 million for the winter has been released. I met the CEO of the Health Service Executive this week and have been in very regular contact with him, as the Deputies can imagine. I have also spoken to every hospital group CEO in respect of Cork and Limerick and all the other hospitals throughout the country. The winter plan will be published by the HSE next week. The special delivery unit, which is a national part of the HSE that goes into our hospitals and assists hospitals in difficulty, is on the way to Cork. It has already been in Galway this week where it has made some improvements.

On nurse recruitment, of course Paul Reid has not said that nobody can be hired or put any freeze on recruitment. It is just very simple. We can only recruit for a funded post. There are 600 more nurses working in the health service this year than last year, and I expect that number to continue.

My plan for Limerick this year, in addition to extra community supports, home care, transitional care and the likes, is also to try to get the second MRI in situ. As I said to Deputy Neville a few moments ago, the tender for that concludes this week. The 60-bed ward block is now well under construction.