On Tuesday, more than 100 people, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, were on trolleys in Cork hospitals, between Mercy University Hospital and Cork University Hospital, CUH. That occurred on 25 October, with the worst of the winter yet to come. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, is looking for a number of measures to ensure the situation in CUH does not deteriorate in the coming weeks and months in order that we do not have a terrible winter. These include additional specialists to be directed by the HSE to CUH, a bespoke plan for CUH, and additional capacity in the Cork region to be found from wherever it can, including from the private sector.

We have seen a significant increase in overcrowding in recent weeks, not just in Cork but around the country, which is extremely worrying. There are lots of reasons for this. As the Deputy knows, given that the pandemic restrictions are now gone - although Covid is not gone - there is pent-up demand stemming from the pandemic period. We also have an increasingly aging population. All those factors are giving rise to what could be a very busy winter in our emergency departments. Many of the actions mentioned by the Deputy will be taken, including the recruitment of additional specialists, securing additional capacity where we can, the use of the private sector and the use of home care.

We will do as much as we can to increase capacity within hospitals and emergency departments, as well as to get people out quicker and to avoid people going to hospital, where possible.