Is mian liom díriú isteach arís ar an ospideál i gcroílár na Gaillimhe. I dtús báire, is mian liom cúpla focal a rá le cabhair a thabhairt don méid a dúirt an Teachta Canney.

The traffic congestion in Galway has been allowed to develop as a crisis in the interest of a lobby group. The best and one of the most effective ways to deal with that is to put in a light rail system, a park and ride, which has never been rolled out even though it was in the development plan 20 years, and a comprehensive school service. When the Taoiseach gave the history lesson on the judicial review, he forgot to mention the reason the decision was quashed was because An Bord Pleanála had failed to take into account what its duties were under climate change. That is an important point.

I will now use my other two minutes for the hospital in Galway. It is good that the Taoiseach is here because he was there back in 2017 regarding the hospital and I am shocked to say that the pressure on that hospital remains the same, notwithstanding the glowing reports for the staff. We have HIQA, and I will stick to HIQA. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, is telling the Taoiseach about the latest progress of Merlin Park and I welcome that. Let us deal, however, with what I am telling him about the regional hospital, which services more than a million people in a population from Donegal down to Galway. The latest HIQA reports tell us there were 29 patients awaiting an inpatient bed. That is 29 people. The term "boarded out" is used. A year ago, it drew up a report which told us it was grossly overcrowded. This year it is worse, so I do not know what language is left if it was grossly overcrowded last year. In addition, we now have 31 patients in hospital who are ready to go out but there are no beds in any step-down facilities or nursing homes. That is the regional hospital in Galway.

In addition, when three of the wards were looked at, one of them, St. Finbar's ward, was found to be grossly understaffed. Different themes were looked at, which are extremely important, namely, infection prevention and control; medication safety; and transitions of care. Transitions of care are not being complied with because I have provided the Taoiseach with information on 31 patients waiting to get out.

What is not recorded is the impact of care not given, notwithstanding the great efforts of the staff. Imagine if we recorded the impact of people on trolleys. Dr. Fergal Hickey tells us ad nauseam that there are at least 350 premature deaths every single year directly related to the time spent on trolleys. When I was here as a newly elected TD in 2017 and when the Taoiseach was the Minister for Health, he provided me with a detailed answer about an options appraisal, which he told me would be published in 2018. That options appraisal was duly published. A brand-new hospital was strongly recommended; not an elective hospital, although I welcome that. A brand-new hospital was recommended and the elective hospital was to be part of that.

I will use my remaining time to talk about a letter I have on oncology and waiting lists. Imagine a waiting list of seven weeks for treatment for a patient for chemotherapy and radiotherapy when the recommended waiting time is 14 days at most. I ask the Taoiseach to avoid telling me about the progress in Merlin Park, which I welcome on record, and instead deal with the situation of the hospital, the lack of staff, the delayed discharge and the awful pressure on staff, not to mention patients.

I thank Deputy Connolly. In the interests of time, I will take her comments on board with regard to the roads and their accuracy. It is important all of those processes are followed.

As for University Hospital Galway, I welcome the fact that HIQA carries out inspection reports, publishes them and shines a light on areas on which we need to continue to try to make progress. HIQA holding our feet to the fire is a good thing, in terms of learning the lessons of the past with regard to health services in Ireland. The inspection reporting function exercised by HIQA is an important tool as well. I know the Minister is committed, as is the HSE, to engaging directly with the hospital group and with University Hospital Galway in relation to the latest HIQA report.

While I do not wish to frustrate the Deputy because she told me not to talk about this or that in my answer, and I understand that point, it is somewhat of a jigsaw because the investments we are making to try to develop services in Merlin Park and decouple certain services that are, let us call them, non-emergency or non-acute, are an important part of increasing capacity and improving patient flow in the hospital.

Deputy Connolly asked directly about staffing. Staffing at the hospital has grown by 751. There was a total of 3,787 staff in the hospital in 2020 compared with a total of 4,538 staff now. Staffing has grown in University Hospital Galway by 20%. There are 121 more nurses and midwives, as well as 46 more medical staff. The budget has also grown for that hospital, going from €398 million in 2020 to €496 million in 2024, which is a 25% increase. Bed numbers have grown too, as 30 new beds have been opened at University Hospital Galway, meaning bed numbers have risen from 684 in 2020 to 714 in 2024. Under our hospital bed expansion plan, a total of 247 new and replacement beds are due to be delivered to University Hospital Galway out to 2031, of which 198 will be delivered between now and 2028. Staff numbers have grown, the budget has increased, bed numbers have grown and are due to grow much further.

As the Deputy rightly said - I will just mention it in passing - the cystic fibrosis unit and the outpatient department at Merlin Park University Hospital opened only last week. The importance of that, apart from the incredible care for cystic fibrosis patients, is that it will enable the transfer of outpatient services to Merlin Park. That will allow the hospital to progress the planned work on the new emergency department. In the lifetime of this Government we have seen the new radiation oncology facility, a new cardiothoracic ward and the opening of the temporary emergency department.

The Deputy referenced my time in the Department of Health. One of the things we talked about back then was the delivery of the elective hospital. The elective hospital is now being planned at Merlin Park. The design brief is currently being completed and, crucially, it is due to receive patients by 2027. I accept and know when I go to Galway that there is a lot more to do with the hospital. We now have, however, a clear plan in terms of the development of services between the current site and the Merlin Park site.

I try to deal with the actual reality on the ground. I wish to highlight that due to severe staff shortages and lack of property facilities, there is now a seven-week waiting list to start chemotherapy in University Hospital Galway. There are now 31 patients in the regional hospital in Galway with nowhere to go while beds in Carraroe and the Aran Islands are empty. There is a waiting list for patients for those locations but they are not opened. A total of 29 patients are awaiting an inpatient bed as we speak, while 43 people are on trolleys today. The Taoiseach is quoting figures but we are in a Republic where we should have a public health system for all.

I welcome any progress made. No progress has been made following the options appraisal, however, which recommended the building of a brand-new hospital, because the Government did not respond. It went for a lesser option and a jigsaw approach, as the Taoiseach said, with no overall vision. We have St. Finbar's orthopaedic ward with five staff missing, between nursing care and assistants. We have an accident and emergency department that has no planning permission and as a result, in desperation, a temporary one was put up in the meantime for €16 million. A whole new block is to go up but it is nowhere to be seen.

The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is beside the Taoiseach and we talked about changing the system to allow these steps to be much easier. Two former taoisigh have said that the accident and emergency department in Galway is not fit for purpose. I and other colleagues have stood here and talked about step 1, 2, 3 and 4 while the Government told us it was changing the process. In the meantime, the public hospital in Galway is absolutely under the most appalling pressure due to lack of staff and facilities, with no dignity or privacy.

First, as regards cancer care, there is an important issue to acknowledge. I want to acknowledge, on the record of the Dáil, that there are clinical specialist radiation therapists and radiation therapy posts in the hospital that are currently vacant. Approximately 25% of these posts are vacant. I want to be absolutely crystal clear; those posts are funded and there are two open recruitment campaigns for those posts. I hope and expect to see progress because I know how important that is.

As for the options appraisal, we have a made a policy decision, which is very much in line with Sláintecare, to decouple emergency care from elective care. We sometimes lose people with those words because what do they mean? It means decoupling people who need to go into our hospital emergency from the people who need planned hospital procedures. That work is now under way. I am not standing here suggesting everything in relation to the health service in Galway is as it needs to be. I am saying, however, with genuine belief and facts, that in the lifetime of this Government, there are more nurses and doctors working in the hospital, staff numbers have grown, the budget has increased, and trolley numbers are down. There are more beds and there is much more to come.