As of this morning, the INMO trolley watch recorded 84 people on trolleys in UHL. The consistently high numbers have gone beyond a joke. It has created a huge amount of anger locally. Nurses have stated they are retiring early because of the pressures and stress they face in UHL in order to protect their mental health. UHL is the infamous war zone. The nurses, who are heroes in our time of need, are working with a major deficit in the mid-west region and are clearly adding to the substantial argument for the need for a model 3 hospital in Ennis. Morale in UHL is far too low, but they will work in Ennis. The only real solution is to provide additional inpatient beds in Ennis hospital, with a long-term plan to upgrade it to model 3 status. The writing has been on the wall since the reconfiguration failed. It was not backed up with the promised resources and investment.

I thank the Deputy for raising the ongoing challenges. We understand the impact these statistics have on all of the individuals and families involved. A huge amount of work is under way to make progress, in particular in UHL where we know there have been real problems. The Minister and HSE have put a real focus on the hospital and have provided supports. Nationally, we have expanded bed capacity. Ultimately, we need to do that. We have an ageing and a growing population. We have delivered almost 1,000 new acute hospital beds and more than 400 community beds. Ennis General Hospital is an operational matter for the HSE and I do not have the details to hand of what it has proposed in that regard. I will ask the Minister to consult the HSE and come back to the Deputy.