Today, I bring up the chronic overcrowding levels in the hospitals in the west and north-west area. The Letterkenny hospital accident and emergency department has been operating under sustained and extreme pressure for the last while. According to INMO figures, there are 40 waiting in Letterkenny, 52 waiting in Sligo and 68 waiting in Galway. Looking at the figures in the west and north-west area, they are a lot worse than other areas, which seem to be performing a lot better. I want to find out from the Minister why is this. Is it down to management, funding or staff shortages? Is it because delayed discharge or inadequate bed capacity? People are waiting anything from eight to 16 hours on trolleys. Can the Minister look into this for me? This morning, I saw the INMO said industrial action may be needed to highlight the hospital overcrowding in the west and north-west area. We cannot allow this to happen. The Minister might clarify what the problem is in the west and north-west area and come back to me.

While I am on my feet, I will mention another issue I brought up last week about Donegal Airport and the PSO contract. A total of 15,000 people signed a petition over the weekend. Yesterday, the Department of Transport decided to proceed and sign the contract. It is talking about a three-month review. To me, this is totally wrong. It was something that was working - and working well. It should never have been changed. To be honest, since the news broke yesterday, the phone has not stopped ringing. People and patients travelling to Dublin are really annoyed about this. Something has to be done about it. All am I getting since yesterday evening when this broke is commentary that Donegal is left behind, the Government does not care about Donegal and if this was Kerry, it would be sorted.

We need urgent action on this. I know the Department is talking about a review in three months but the Leader knows how reviews can go on and on. Could we get the Minister in here for a debate to see if we could decide something to get this moving forward. The people of Donegal need this service. We should not be left behind.