I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, and I also thank him for calling that out. I mean, this is Dáil Éireann; it is not Kilmallock cattle mart. Every Thursday we are treated to the same thing.

Sentiment score: 0.20

I heard it.

Sentiment score: 0.00

Today I again raise the issue of overcrowding in our emergency departments. Last week, we saw 14 ambulances queued up for up to eight hours outside Wexford hospital. As a local representative for Limerick, this healthcare crisis is something I know the Minister is also familiar with. In our city of Limerick on 3 December, UHL management once again urged the public to avoid the emergency department as 350 people attended in one day. Last month the Minister for Health opened another 96-bed unit at UHL, which has done little to mitigate the overcrowding caused by decades of underinvestment. This week we saw again 103 people on trolleys on Tuesday. We need a vision for healthcare in the mid-west beyond the next five years, and not just more short termism. At this stage the people of Limerick are living with a hospital in a permanent state of crisis. If we are to address the root cause of the problem in the mid-west, which is a lack of capacity and only one emergency department for the entire region, then next week the people of Limerick, Clare and Tipperary need the Minister to commit to a new model 3 hospital in the mid-west that will deliver a second emergency department. Squeezing more people into UHL simply will not work. Politics and politicians have failed the healthcare needs of the mid-west. As the crisis in our emergency department rages, we have a bad flu season this year. It is a flu season we knew was coming because of the data available since the summer from Australia. The low uptake of the flu vaccine is frightening, and this is something Government has failed to address through an information and awareness campaign to urge people to get the vaccine. The vaccine should be free and it should be universal. We have been saying this for ten years. I cannot understand why we have not been listened to. This is a proven way to take pressure off emergency departments as thousands are going to be hospitalised this year due to flu. It is also incredibly concerning to hear reports that the enhanced flu vaccine was not obtained for cost reasons. As my colleague Deputy Sherlock said, this is appalling penny pinching and it will have serious costs for older people and for scheduled care in our hospitals. We know the enhanced flu vaccine outperforms the standard vaccine, particularly with older people, and this is madness, given the data we have from Australia. As a TD for Limerick and a Cabinet Minister, will Deputy O'Donovan ensure that the health memo at Cabinet next week commits to a new stand-alone hospital in the mid-west, so option C as well as A and B? Will he account for why the Government did not roll out the enhanced flu vaccine and will he commit to a public awareness campaign to make the flu vaccine universal?

Sentiment score: -0.28

I thank the Minister for his response. I am glad he acknowledged options A and B were happening anyway because we did not need the HIQA report for them. We need the Government to commit in the longer term, beyond the next five years, to option C because we need a new stand-alone hospital in the mid-west. The Minister referenced staff burnout, which I am very concerned about, as well as staff leaving. I am concerned that the opening of the new Bon Secours Hospital in Towlerton will cause more staff to leave UHL. In fact, we are already seeing it. The Minister represents the region at Cabinet and this is also about him and his legacy. The fact of the matter is, as he rightly pointed out, we were sold a pup with the Hanly review and reconfiguration. We were screwed in the mid-west and are all paying the price for that short-termism. The Minister needs to give a commitment to the people of the mid-west that there will be a Cabinet decision to deliver a new hospital for Limerick, Tipperary and Clare.

Sentiment score: 0.12