I will again bring up the matter of the HIQA report into overcrowding in the emergency department, ED, at UHL. There are 88 patients on trolleys there today, which is the same number as that on 15 March when HIQA carried out its report. UHL needs serious help at a national level. We have the second highest number in throughput of ED patients, yet we have the lowest number, relatively, of acute beds. That is a very important statistic. The Minister for Health set up, and asked the HSE to put in place, an expert team at UHL. That team concluded its review on 10 June. We now need to see HSE corporate stepping in to help UHL. It needs help. I need the Taoiseach to stand behind that proposition and these measures. I ask that the action plan now being brought forward by the review team in the HSE nationally be implemented immediately in UHL. It has very hard-working staff but we have serious problems there.

I understand the HSE has been involved at national level in respect of governance and has sent a team to the hospital to monitor and review it.

It is the action plan I want.

That has happened. We are acutely aware of the challenges and pressures on the hospital. The HIQA report identified, for example, that even though there has been a substantial increase in beds in the past number of years, it did not in itself alleviate the pressures on the emergency department. There are issues other than resources. More resources will be required for acute beds but that will take time. In the interim, there are issues such as systems within the hospital and flow through it. As I said, when the HIQA report was carried out, it was at the high point of disruption caused by Covid-19. It was an unannounced visit, which is the same thing-----

It is as bad now.

One can understand. Covid is having an impact on health. Everyone wants to forget about it and pretend it is not happening but it is happening and having a significant impact on the operation of hospitals.