One of the health priorities of this Government is to tackle hospital waiting lists. When I raised the issue of capacity and resources in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda last year, the Minister for Health agreed that the required resources have not been in place for a long time. He sanctioned a doubling of the number of emergency medical consultants in Drogheda and launched phase 2 of the safe staffing framework. Regarding capacity, the Minister spoke of the use of step-down facilities so that there would be more capacity in the hospital for emergency medicine. However, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is currently dealing with a deficit in medical staffing and is bursting to capacity. On top of this, the decision to close the accident and emergency department in Navan will have a significant knock-on effect on Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, which is of huge concern. The plan to downgrade and close Navan accident and emergency department needs to be abandoned and funding needs to be allocated to the acute services in counties Louth and Meath. The reopening of Louth County Hospital in Dundalk should be seriously considered. There is infrastructure and capacity available immediately there, and this would alleviate pressure at a time of a capacity crisis. I always come to the House with solutions and now is the right time to reopen services at Louth County Hospital.

First of all, on the issues relating to the north east in particular, clinical protocols have already been adopted in terms of patients going to the right hospital location for the right outcome.

They are being sent back from Dublin now.

That is the fundamental principle that governs how doctors respond to a particular emergency. There is an issue in terms of pressures on hospitals, and of that there is no doubt. The proper utilisation of Navan in the context of medical emergencies, or indeed the pressure in medical assessment units and so on, is critical. The utilisation of hospitals in the most effective way is the key issue here in the context of safety and the best outcome for patients, which must be uppermost at all times.

It is about capacity. There is not enough capacity.