I raise the issue of University Hospital Limerick and the accident and emergency department there, which I have probably raised every week since I was elected in 2016. Last October saw a record number of 2,043 people on trolleys there and today there are 106 people on trolleys. In 2020 we had 18,012 people on trolleys and we have already surpassed that figure this year. It is a scandal. I remind Members that each of these people have been assessed and deemed in need of a hospital bed but there is no bed available for them. The programme for Government commits to significant additional capacity and yet, year on year, the numbers at University Hospital Limerick get worse. The new bed block, which will deliver 48 new beds, is far short of the 200 beds that University Hospital Limerick says it needs. It is a disgrace that the people of Limerick and the mid-west are treated in this manner. If the Minister were to visit the hospital he would find young and old stacked together in hallways, deprived of the dignity and privacy one would expect in such a sensitive setting. When will the Government take action? The Minister for Health seems unable or unwilling to even answer questions in either Chamber, let alone tackle these issues.

I thank the Deputy for his question. The Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, was in here this morning with me at 9 a.m. answering questions on health for 90 minutes. Deputy Wynne put the question of University Hospital Limerick and the issues there to him. There is an acceptance and acknowledgement that there are a lot of issues with capacity but work on the new €90 million project, consisting of a 96-bed inpatient block and renal dialysis unit commenced in October 2022. The construction phase will take at least two years to complete and it is currently envisaged that it will be complete by quarter 1 of 2025. I acknowledge that the Deputy raises this continuously but we are doing everything we can to try to alleviate the pressures in patient flow throughout all acute hospital sectors.