I have long been raising my concerns regarding staff retention and recruitment issues and the continuous scaling back of essential services in Letterkenny University Hospital. I raised this concern in February and this week we are seeing yet another resignation of a consultant in Letterkenny due, in his words, to "impossible working conditions". He is a consultant urologist who is known for his excellent quality of care. He has resigned from his post due to a lack of resources, reactive policies and impractical and onerous on-call demands. I cannot imagine any other urologist will take up this post if these are the conditions they are forced to work under.

How long does this have to go on? How many resignations will it take before this Government intervenes? Is the intention to run down the hospital altogether? The people of Donegal are suffering at the hands of this Government's continuous inaction on these issues, yet the Minister visited the hospital last week when this resignation occurred. What exactly will the Government do to ensure Letterkenny University Hospital is adequately staffed and resourced?

As the Deputy said, I visited the hospital and met the clinical and administrative leaders in the past few weeks and these issues were discussed. There is a new consultant contract coming into place. I believe that will help. We are also looking at whether there are additional supports that Letterkenny needs because of its location. It is so far from model 4 hospitals. It is something we are actively pursuing.

The funding is there. The posts are sanctioned but, as the Deputy rightly pointed out, the hospital has struggled to hire in permanent consultants across a range of specialties. It is something I have brought back to the HSE and the Department. We will continue to engage with the hospital.