I have a letter that was sent to the Taoiseach this morning from the chairperson of the County Donegal branch of Diabetes Ireland, Paul Gillespie. In the letter he states, "Resources have deteriorated to such a level for Type 1 Diabetes care in LUH that we are concerned that patient safety of care is now beyond critical." The Minister, Deputy Charlie McConalogue will confirm everything I am saying. We have a profound crisis in that there should be three endocrinologists in Letterkenny University Hospital but there is nobody there. People who get the job walk away because the level of support and resources are just not there. The reason Diabetes Ireland wrote this letter to the Taoiseach is its representatives met him when he was Minister for Health back in 2016 and 2017. Commitments were given that have not been honoured. We have a profound crisis here. We are asking that an urgent meeting be convened by the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, with all the senior people, and that LUH be upgraded to model 4 hospital status. This is what is required.

One of the factors here is the resignation of a consultant.

No, it is much broader than that.

I mean that is the fundamental issue. Is it the case that this consultant was responsible for endocrinology retired? Is that what happened?

There are three positions for endocrinologists, all unfilled.

My understanding is that the HSE-----

We cannot have a conversation about it, please.

What we need to do is engage with the HSE, in the first instance. We can write to the Taoiseach of the day but it will go back down the chain. The Minister for Health has to deal with it, as does the HSE within the broader programme on diabetes generally. There has been substantial increased investment in LUH over the past number of years with increases in staff and so on. I will talk to the Minister for Health and make him aware of the fact that the issue has been raised.