I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy John Cummins.
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Planning Issues
This Commencement matter relates to the national planning statement and guidelines on designs for apartments. I welcome the Government's announcement last Tuesday that it would issue guidelines with a strategic environmental assessment, SEA, and the appropriate other issues attached to that in terms of the SEA report. I have looked at the submissions and am pleased to see that attached in the documents attached to the public consultation, we have the draft planning design standard amendments for the national planning scheme for 2026 statement; the strategic environmental assessment, SEA, environmental report with the SEA environmental report non-technical summary; the SEA determination under section 26(4) of the Planning and Development Act 2024; the screening for the appropriate assessment, AA, and determination under section 202 of the Planning and Development Act of 2024; and the stage 1 strategic flood assessment of flood risk identification. The privacy statements are also worth mentioning. I mentioned it to the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, yesterday but I am delighted to see that in this case, it is clearly stated that all submissions will be published online and all personal information will be redacted, which I think is a reasonable and fair request. That is important and I welcome it.
One has to ask when one looks in here today what the difference is between what was out there and what is happening in practice. I told the House the other day - I am not too sure if the Minister of State was here - that I had made contact with the national planning regulator, An Coimisiún Pleanála and a number of planning authorities to ascertain how they were applying the current situation. I received mixed responses so that was interesting in itself. I read the Government's press statement on these matters. It is important to see that we need clarity and consistency.
I recognise that viability is frequently cited as an issue and I understand the Government's position on that but I reiterate that we cannot compromise high standards for viability. We need greater clarity. People may choose to live in apartments and they do but we see restrictions with regard to three bedrooms. There are people living in four-bedroom apartments in all over Europe. There is not a lot of availability of three- and four-bedroom apartments. There is an inconsistency in the design and the application of design and standards between public and private. I do not want any difference between public, private, social or affordable. Home are homes and it is about building quality homes.
I do not want to dwell too much on the litigation because it is before the courts but I acknowledge the input and courage of Independent councillor Pádraig McEvoy, Labour Party councillor Darragh Moriarty, Green Party councillors David Healy and Dan Boyle and former environmental editor with The Irish Times, Frank McDonald. They took risks and challenged things and they are entitled to do so. That is democracy and I do not sneer at or suggest that people who are democratically elected or journalists with a long track record and expertise do not have a right to do this so I am delighted that Mr. Justice Richard Humphreys referred this matter to the European courts. That is where it is. Parallel to the status quo, the Government is producing a new public consultation with appropriate measures that I welcome but I salute and admire the courageous politicians who took a stand at potentially great personal cost to themselves.
As the Senator will appreciate, there is a lot in this response and it will be circulated. I will get through as much of it as I possibly can.
The delivery of housing is a top priority for this Government. The Government's new housing action plan supports the delivery of the revised national planning framework projections, which set out the need to plan for approximately 50,000 additional homes per annum out to 2040. Fulfilling these commitments will require a substantial increase in housing output of all types, in particular apartments at central and accessible urban locations. On Tuesday, 9 June, a public consultation was opened on the draft national planning statement design standards for apartments 2026 and the associated SEA environmental report and non-technical summary.
The draft national planning statement, NPS, represents an important opportunity to review how apartment development can contribute to addressing Ireland’s housing needs while maintaining high standards of quality, sustainability and liveability. As housing demands continue to grow across our cities, towns and urban centres, apartments will play a significant role in delivering homes for a diverse range of households, and in particular at central and accessible urban locations.
The draft NPS sets out guidance, standards and policy requirements in relation to the design of apartment developments to take account of current Government policy and economic, social and environmental considerations. The draft NPS set out, for consistent application by all planning authorities and An Coimisiún Pleanála, the particular design parameters that will apply to apartment development, where the principle of the development of apartments at any particular site has been established in accordance with the statutory plan and consideration of the policies, objectives and requirements of the sustainable residential development and compact settlement guidelines, issued as ministerial guidelines in 2024.
The draft NPS includes national planning policies and measures related to unit mix, internal space standards for different types of apartments, dual aspect ratios, floor to ceiling heights, apartments to stair or lift core ratios, communal, community and cultural facilities, shared accommodation and certain standards relating to student accommodation. The draft NPS also include guidance related to amenity spaces including balconies or patios, storage, security considerations, access and services, waste management facilities, children’s play areas, bicycle parking or storage and car parking. It also sets out the need to practically and flexibly apply the general requirements of the draft NPS in relation to refurbishment schemes, particularly in historic buildings, some urban townscapes and over-the-shop type or other existing building conversions.
The draft NPS is being prepared for the approval by the Government under section 25 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 to replace the design standards for apartments, guidelines for planning authorities issued in 2025 as ministerial guidelines under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000.
A strategic environmental assessment, SEA, is being undertaken on a precautionary basis and in accordance with Article 6 of Directive 2001/42/EC which is the strategic environmental assessment directive, and the European Union land use planning and strategic environmental assessment regulations 2025.
The draft NPS is accompanied by an SEA environmental report and non-technical summary, and a public consultation is being carried out in accordance with regulation 9 of the European Union land use planning and strategic environmental assessment regulations 2025 and section 26 of the Planning and Development Act 2024.
As the Senator will be aware, submissions or observations may be made in relation to the draft national planning statement and the associated precautionary SEA environmental report and non-technical summary until 5.30pm on 7 July 2026.
I thank the Minister of State. None of that is new to me because it is all on the website today in relation to the public consultation. However it is good to have it on the record.
The word I am taking away from the Minister of State’s contribution today is “precautionary”. We will see if it is precautionary when the courts make a final decision. I do not believe it is precautionary. I believe it was mandatory and required. I look forward to discussing it again when the decision is made but the line the Minister of State has chosen to take today is that it was only on a precautionary basis. I note that and it is important it is on the record.
Apartments are an important choice for people who want to buy or rent to live in one. I accept that every effort must be made to further reduce the costs of apartments, as for the construction of any homes, to achieve the delivery of the 300,000 homes the Government has set to be achieved by the end of 2030.
It is being conducted on a precautionary basis. The Senator has said viability is key in apartment development. The Government recognises that, which is why we are introducing this national planning statement and why we introduced the guidance we brought in last year. If the Senator has suggestions around viability measures in relation to apartment development, he knows I am an approachable Minister of State and I am more than happy to hear those because that is a critical element if we are to get to the targets. I do not think we can have a position where we cannot change apartment standards and have active viability. We know from reports, which both of us examined at the joint committee on housing in the past, that there is a significant viability gap around apartment development. My job as Minister of State is to ensure we close that viability gap so we can get the homes that families and individuals need across the country. That is my job as a Minister of State and I hope I will have the support of the House in introducing these guidelines.
Passport Services
I thank the Minister of State for being here. I wish to raise the need for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to make a statement on the modernising of the Garda verification system for first-time passport applicants or applications being treated as first-time applications, specifically to introduce an IT-based system or element so the process is not solely reliant on phones being answered, which is not always possible in busy Garda stations.
I, like all Members of the Oireachtas, receive representations on passports quite a lot and especially at this time of year as people are heading away on their holidays. Part of the security arrangement for first-time passports, whether for a child or adult, or an application being treated as a first-time application, which happens when the last passport issued to someone was in excess of 15 years previously, is verification by a garda of the identity of the applicant. When processing the application, the passport service will ring the Garda station up to three times to confirm the details of the application. I have read that where the passport service cannot reach the Garda station after three attempts, the relevant superintendent’s office can be contacted to verify the details, although in a lot of recent cases when I contacted the Passport Office’s Oireachtas service on applications this option has not been mentioned. Rather, I was informed a new form would be requested from the applicant. It is not clear to me how often the option to phone the relevant superintendent is used.
Regardless, this procedure seems incredibly unfair, given that a family may miss their holiday because there is no one available to answer a call in a Garda station. I was made aware of one recent case of a man in his 80s having to be driven to Dublin to secure his passport for a family trip. It is not acceptable that in 2026 we do not have a digital system in place to ensure the timely verification of the details by gardaí. Remedying this should be a priority. It is an issue which can and should be solved in a relatively straightforward manner. If a digital system were to be implemented, it could be completed by qualified administrative staff. That would have the bonus of freeing up extra Garda resources to focus their attention on crimes.
I am glad of the opportunity to address the House on the topic of passports which has been raised by my good friend Senator Crowe. I thank him for raising this issue. It is a really important issue of which I am very aware from a constituency perspective, as are most Members of this House.
The passport service is currently experiencing a high level of demand for passports as citizens prepare for upcoming summer travel. Thanks to the operational and staffing plans of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the passport service is successfully responding to this demand and has issued over 440,000 passports to date this year.
Internationally, the Irish passport has a strong reputation and the passport service takes seriously its responsibility to protect the integrity of the Irish passport and the issuing process. Our passport ranks fourth in the Henley global passport index as it provides citizens visa-free access to 186 countries.
Since the introduction of passport online in 2017, adults renewing their passports are not required to submit a witnessed identity form. Online child renewal applications can be witnessed by members of many professions, including schoolteachers, doctors, elected representatives and gardaí. Only first-time adult and child passport application forms for applicants resident in Ireland are required to be witnessed by a member of An Garda Síochána. There is a really good reason for that. We have seen efforts by others for nefarious reasons to attempt to gain an Irish passport illegally.
The witnessing of these application forms is a vital element of the identity verification process as it provides initial assurance to the passport service that the person in the photograph is the same person presenting to submit the form. With applications for a minor, the witnessing of this form provides evidence that guardians have given consent for a passport to be issued to the child. To protect the rights of guardians and children, it is important that forms are correctly completed.
In December 2025, the passport service launched a new passport assist service to support citizens who do not wish to use passport online channels and assist them to make a paper passport application. When developing passport assist, the passport service engaged extensively with An Garda Síochána and provided training resources on correctly witnessing forms. Since its launch, the proportion of applications requiring Garda witnessing has decreased from 17% to 13%. When a garda does witness an application, it is the responsibility of the witnessing garda to ensure that the signature is correctly recorded in the station logbook in order that, when the passport service calls, the signature can be verified. In these cases, the passport service calls the relevant station to confirm that the garda recorded the form in the logbook. The passport service is not required to directly speak to the witnessing garda. Passport service staff call the Garda station up to three times to verify the signature. Passport applications are checked by experienced entitlement officers who endeavour to maintain up-to-date records of the opening hours of Garda stations.
Where the passport service cannot reach the Garda station after three attempts, the relevant superintendent’s office can be contacted to verify the details. If the passport service is unable to verify the witness after these steps have been taken, a new witnessed form will be requested from the applicant. The passport service is continuously looking at ways to make the application process easier for applicants, including the enhancement of digital services, and would welcome the digitisation of the records maintained by An Garda Síochána when witnessing applications. There is a general update of passport service policies under way in the context of the ongoing passport reform programme. This reform programme focuses on the future of service delivery by implementing projects that enhance the customer experience, while maintaining the integrity of the Irish passport.
I thank the Senator for his question. I am well aware of the issue. I encourage him and others in this House and elsewhere to encourage those seeking a passport and filling out the application to go to a main Garda station. There is a multiplicity of Garda stations in my constituency which only open for a number of hours of the day and there is no way in the wide world that when the Passport Office is ringing at 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock or 6 o'clock, or maybe later or even at weekends, there will be somebody there to answer. I encourage people who find themselves with a requirement to witness the application, that is, a first-time application or one that has been expired for more than five years, to go to the main Garda station in the county. That is a way to resolve the problem. However, it does not take from the very important issue the Senator has raised, which is somebody who missed a holiday who at some point had a passport that had gone out of date. Between Covid and various other things, people quite frankly have not had use for a passport. Particularly within the common travel area where Aer Lingus prior to this did not require a passport to go to the UK, and many people who did not have a passport chose to travel there with a driving licence, there is now an even greater demand. The word has to go out that people should go to a main Garda station if they are outside the normal repeat situation.
I thank the Minister of State for his excellent response. It shows he is on the ground because he knows exactly the issue that has been raised. The point I raise is that what is happening is the Passport Office is contacting the Garda station on three occasions but does not follow up with the superintendent's office and consequently there is an issue after the three calls are made. That is the feedback I am getting in Galway.
I would like to send out the message that what the Minister of State has said here this morning is to go to your main Garda station with the full-time hours that a 24-hour Garda station, which we have throughout Galway city has, and which other leading localities, whether Ennis or Limerick as the case may be, have.
I appreciate this is a very important role. Ensuring identity verification is a key point in the passport process, and naturally we all go along with that. I note the digitalisation of Garda records is a matter for An Garda Síochána, as we know, but having said that, there is a close relationship between the Department and the Garda, and it would be of considerable benefit if the Department could engage with An Garda Síochána on this to give it a suitable path forward. As I have noted, a proper system is implemented. This would seem to be a task that could be largely carried out by administrative staff, freeing up Garda resources, which would surely be a win-win situation.
I fully take on board what the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley has said this morning on sending out the message to go to a main, 24-hour Garda station. That is the point that as public representatives we need to get across.
I thank the Senator. I know he is passionate about this area, because he and I have had numerous conversations. He is working extremely hard in his constituency to try to get people over the line.
I will raise the issue, as I have done previously, with the Minister for foreign affairs in relation to who can actually sign and do the verification. I am conscious that it can be done by peace commissioners, commissioners of oaths, schoolteachers and school principals, etc. I see no reason why somebody who is elected to the Oireachtas could not be in a position to sign. For whatever might be said about us as politicians, generally, those of us who are elected have the trust of our constituents. It would be an appropriate profession to be able to sign and verify because the Senators in the House know full well that unlike gardaí and school teachers, etc., our phones can never be off. We are always in a position to be available because that is our role. The Senators here today are hard-working, constituency people. That is something that should be looked at.
The Senator might bring forward a Private Member's Bill or perhaps another Commencement matter to broaden the kind of people who can be used because while a garda plays a very important role, the role generally is just to witness. Somebody presents him or herself with a photograph and that is the individual and the garda signs to that effect. There is no reason that could not be done by a Member of the Oireachtas. That would resolve a lot of the issues that we talk about, but that is a matter for the Department. It is something the Senator could raise here at a later stage.
EU Programmes
I thank the Minister of State for being here with us this morning. I want to speak about the Key to the EU programme, which is a fully-funded EU primary school programme. As the Minister of State knows, in the second half of this year, in just shy of a month, Ireland holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a Presidency which will not only shape what we say in Brussels, but should shape what we do at home in our classrooms with the next generation of European citizens.
The hosting of the Presidency is a real opportunity to bring the European project closer to our citizens. The Key to the EU programme also offers just that. It was created by Dr. Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan from UCC and Trish Collier, who is a principal in Kilmurry National School in Cork North-West, my own constituency. It is an engaging programme in active European citizenship education designed for primary level. It gives teachers free curriculum-linked classroom resources with differentiation built in and a Drumcondra-accredited CPD course to support them. This is not an untested programme, it is one of only 13 teacher training programmes competitively funded by the European Union, and it is the only one of those programmes that is based at primary school level. A programme led from Ireland is being praised across the Union as a model of good practice and yet it lacks visibility in the very schools here at home that it was meant to serve.
What I am seeking from the Minister of State is something practical, which is the promotion of this programme. Each August, before the school year begins, the Department communicates with primary schools. I am asking whether this programme could be included in that communication or for the Department to send a single dedicated email letting principals and teachers know that this fully-funded, freely available resource exists. There is no funding sought. It is fully funded from an EU level. No new scheme is proposed. No curriculum change is required because the new primary curriculum framework embeds at its core a wheel of competencies where active citizenship features.
This programme links in with many existing modules and subjects on the current curriculum. There are parts that link in with history, geography and English. We are seeking one act of communication at a moment of real national and European significance. The position stated by the Department of Education and Youth is that it does not endorse any outside programmes but this has suffered exceptions, such as the endorsement of incredibly worthy anti-bully and online safety programmes like FUSE.
This is a programme that is the result of a unique collaboration between primary and third level educators. Just last month, Dr. Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan was appointed by the European Commission to the advisory board of the project, enhancing democratic citizenship education and supporting member states with resources and tools. This highlights just how highly regarded Key To the EU and its creators are. To be getting this kind of accolade at a European level but not be getting it at a national level indicates that something is very wrong.
Active citizenship cannot and should not be an abstract idea. It begins with children in primary classrooms learning what it means to belong to something larger than themselves and discussing how to engage with it and shape it. This programme seeks to do that. It brings the European Union to kids in ways they can understand. This is a fully funded, ready-made way to do that and to open that conversation with children. I see many adults who do not have a full grasp of the European project. If we can start the proper education on this at a young age, it will be really beneficial to our citizens going forward. All I am asking is for the Department to highlight this programme and simply let schools know that it is there.
I thank Senator Lynch for raising this important issue and recognise her very considerable interest in broader European issues. I know she is a vice-president of the European People's Party, which is an important role, and she has a long history there. I think she was secretary general of YouthEPP at a stage in the past. It is really good that this House seeks to embrace all that is involved at European level. I thank the Senator for her continued interest in this area.
The Minister, Deputy Naughton, along with Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, recently met Dr. Schön-Quinlivan, Ms Trish Collier and Mr. Hugh Ahern, the team behind the Key to the EU programme. Dr. Schön-Quinlivan and Ms Collier presented on the Key to the EU programme at the meeting. The Minister acknowledged the work that went into developing such programmes and the positive intentions behind it. However, it was set out that the Department received many requests to support or promote the roll-out of projects, programmes and resources in schools. The Education Act 1998 sets out the key roles and functions in the running of schools. This recognises that school leaders and teachers are best placed to decide on the programmes that are most appropriate for the children in their classrooms and in their schools generally. As a result, apart from a small number of prescribed texts at post-primary level, determined by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, decisions on textbooks, programmes and products to use in schools are therefore taken at school level. External companies and organisations that develop programmes can contact schools directly, but in terms of content, the Department does not have a role in approving, commissioning, sponsoring or endorsing any content in any publication or product. The only requirement from the Department, on any resource used in a school, is that it be relevant to the curriculum. Ultimately, the decision on which resources, if any, most appropriately cover the curriculum also rests with the school.
At the meeting with the Key to the EU team, it was noted that other programmes, such as the Blue Star Programme are available to schools. The Blue Star Programme is managed by European Movement Ireland for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The programme aligns to the primary curriculum and aims to foster a better understanding and knowledge of the EU through classroom projects and activities. This is an example of the issue facing the Department if asked to endorse particular programmes over others. It was suggested to the Key to the EU team that they explore how the two initiatives might align and support each other.
Today is also an opportunity to highlight that the concept of citizenship is already embedded across the curriculum. Aistear, the curriculum for early years, promotes the concept of citizenship and social justice with children and respects them as young citizens. The redeveloped primary curriculum framework introduces being an active citizen as one of seven key competencies. It aims to empower children to understand their rights and responsibilities and to engage with local and global issues. Leaving certificate politics and society aims to develop students’ capacity to engage in reflective and active citizenship, informed by the insights and skills of social and political sciences. The content of these specifications supports the development of an understanding of equality, inequality and diversity in a range of areas of human life, including gender, ethnicity and social class.
I thank the Minister of State for his kind words and for taking this matter today. I appreciate that it is not within his Ministry. Nonetheless, I am quite disappointed with that reply. I am aware of the meeting with Ms Collier and Dr. Schön-Quinlivan. However, we are not looking for sponsorship, as the Department has outlined in the second page of the reply. We are not looking for an endorsement. All we are looking for is that schools be made aware that this resource is available. It seems absurd to me that a primary school funded programme cannot secure a basic level of support from our Ministers during the year of the EU Presidency we are hosting. It is not about sponsorship, funding or endorsement. It is simply about letting schools know that this resource is available.
I take the point on the Blue Star programme. It is an excellent programme. These two programmes are actually quite complementary, yet the way the Department of foreign affairs is putting it is that it is either-or. It most certainly is not. The Key to the EU and the Blue Star programmes can work together, hand in hand.
We have to be very mindful and careful of our position within the European Union when we look at the way in which politics across the Union is fragmenting and the global change we are facing. According to the most recent European Movement Ireland poll, while 82% of Irish people are happy to retain our membership, 26% do not feel that the EU is moving in the right direction, 28% do not know, 37% feel their views are not represented at a European level, and 27% of people do not know whether they are. There is a lack of education there. I take the point about Aistear and the point about the leaving certificate project but we need to do more. This is a resource that is free and that has been widely accredited at a European level. It is shameful if we cannot accredit it and acknowledge it here at a national level when it came from Ireland.
I know of the Senator's commitment to the European Union and her desire to broaden the reach to the greatest extent possible, not in a lectural way, but an embracing way, to try to inform and educate. Of course, the best place to involve oneself in education generally is in an education setting. While Departments of state generally are rigorous about being associated with certain programmes, I cannot disagree with anything Senator Lynch has said, to be frank.
I encourage her to use her office as an outreach to schools in so far as she can. I do a little of that as well because I share some of her interests, although perhaps not to the same level she has been so successful in. I see Senator Lynch on social media. She is a very hard worker on the ground. Maybe we can use our respective political offices to engage and inform schools. I know that Senator Lynch and others regularly speak in school settings. Sometimes, Departments take time to get to where they need to be or should be. As politicians, maybe we should do some of that work ourselves in reaching out through our various constituency funding streams. For example, there is the capacity to get material printed and circulated to schools in our areas. Maybe that is something we need to push a little bit ourselves. However, I do take Senator Lynch's point.
I know the hesitancy and reticence at departmental level not to be seen to support any particular programme are for all the good reasons, and there are other programmes that will come along that may not have the same broader acceptance or whatever. However, there is a lack of information there and we should be filling the void because if we do not, it will be filled by various social media channels by those who seek to oppose or dismantle the effectiveness of the European Union generally.
We recently had Dr. Schön-Quinlivan and Ms Collier before the education committee and its Leas-Chathaoirleach, Senator Scahill, and we got to hear from students about their insights into how successful the programme was. I just want to mention that Senator Scahill and the rest of the committee are fully supportive of the initiative.
Hospital Facilities
Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Butler.
Tá fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to answer this query. I have asked for an urgent update on the establishment of a hospital board, on the expansion of facilities at UHL and on what other measures can be taken, including recruitment of additional consultants to meet demand and population levels in the mid-west.
At the outset I acknowledge and thank the Government and the Minister of State for last December bringing clarity and direction to the healthcare and hospital crisis that has plagued the mid-west for far too long. The HIQA report last autumn laid bare for all to see that the brutal overcrowding in our emergency department is caused by the chronic shortage of acute inpatient beds in UHL. That point remains central to my query for an update today. As we move forward, it is important and welcome that there is a focus on additional beds in Nenagh, Ennis and St. John's hospitals. Nonetheless, it is the provision of further acute inpatient beds that will help to alleviate the accident and emergency overcrowding we are experiencing in the mid-west.
In March the Minister announced the purchase of a 43-acre site in Raheen as part of plans to expand hospital facilities for UHL at Dooradoyle. I am seeking an update from the Minister of State on what steps have been taken since then to move the project forward. We understand that this is not something that will happen overnight. We appreciate that thought and consideration have to be put into establishing a project board, but the project board is the first critical step in developing and finalising the plans and monitoring the progress of the development of the new site at Raheen. While the Minister has accepted and authorised the maximising of the facilities on the existing UHL Dooradoyle site, that is a more complex project. This is the only acute hospital in the region. It is a busy hospital. It is managing all of the health requirements for 440,000 people across the area. It is a phased development. I give full credit to all of the hospital doctors, workers and staff who are going in and out every day. They are doing their absolute best in challenging facilities, and in what is effectively a construction site. The welcome second 96-bed block is under construction at the moment and there are plans for further development on that site. While we have to be more phased in the development and the maximising of facilities on the Dooradoyle site, once plans have been finalised and planning permission has been granted we can plough ahead and go hammer and tongs at the green site in Raheen. I would like the Minister of State to provide an update on those, and I will ask about the consultant numbers afterwards.
I thank the Senator for raising this important issue and for her constant advocacy for health services in Limerick and the mid-west region. She has worked closely with me on various projects for mental health and I acknowledge that, particularly with regard to CAST in Limerick, which is going from strength to strength. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. As the Senator has alluded to, the Government is working to address the challenges facing acute care in the mid-west. We have listened to the strong advocacy of the people of the region and their representatives. It is important that is acknowledged because the lived experience for many people in Limerick has fallen short. It is important that we keep listening.
I recognise the significant pressures at UHL and the impact on patients, families and staff. I commend the vital work of health service staff who continue to provide quality care when people need it most. The independent report by retired Chief Justice Mr. Frank Clarke into the tragic death of Aoife Johnston made 17 recommendations, all of which have been acted on and their implementation concluded in September 2025. Staffing at UHL increased significantly by 42% from December 2020 to April 2026, equating to 4,443 whole-time equivalents. This includes 237 additional doctors, 55 of whom are consultants. Across the mid-west, overall staffing increased by 37% over the same period to 6,179 whole-time equivalents. The subsequent HIQA review identified three potential options. Option A was to expand capacity at UHL Dooradoyle. Option B was to extend UHL to include a second campus nearby and option C was to develop a model 3 hospital in the mid-west, providing a second emergency department for the region.
The Minister has accepted this advice. We are not choosing one option over another. We are delivering all three together in a co-ordinated way. At UHL, work is moving quickly on option A. Two new 16-bed units are now in place. A new 96-bed block opened in October 2025. It is state of the art. I have visited it. A further 16-bed unit is due for completion by the end of this year. Contracts for a second 96-bed ward block are expected to be awarded shortly, and a design team has been appointed for a 66-bed block. Ennis, St. John’s and Nenagh hospitals will see an additional 114 beds by 2031. In total, 420 new beds will be delivered across the mid-west between 2024 and 2031.
We are also using innovative technology to provide care, with a new virtual ward at UHL now providing 40 virtual care beds. This has worked extremely well in the Dublin region and will hopefully be the same in this case. To progress option B, the Minister mandated the HSE in December to secure a suitable site near the UHL Dooradoyle campus. In March the HSE secured a 44-acre site in Raheen. The site provides a significant opportunity to provide meaningful additional care and health services for the people in the region. Work is under way to establish a mid-west region strategic board. The board will develop a comprehensive strategic plan for the organisation of services and investment across the mid-west to support a sustainable, region-wide model of care. This plan will determine which services must remain on the UHL Dooradoyle campus, which can move to the new Raheen site, and which can be transferred to Ennis, St. John’s or Nenagh hospitals. The Minister for Health remains focused on ensuring that HIQA’s recommendations are implemented in a timely and co-ordinated way, and that people in the mid-west have access to safe, high-quality and reliable care.
I thank the Minister of State for mentioning CAST and I sincerely thank her for her leadership on that initiative. It was an initiative, as I understand it, that was proposed from within the ranks in Henry Street in Limerick. The Minister of State really supported it. It was in danger of getting stuck, but she unclogged it and allowed it to move forward with her personal support. That project is getting strong feedback across Limerick. I know the final report has been prepared and submitted.
It is coming shortly.
She will be making her deliberations based on that. I thank her for her support. I also thank her for listing out and reminding us of the progress that has been made. It is important to point out that all the recommendations from Mr. Justice Clarke’s report into the death of Aoife Johnston have been implemented. It is also important for the people of the mid-west to hear that. The reality is that we have huge distance and ground to make up and I acknowledge her commitment to helping us to do that.
I turn to the issue of consultants. The clinical board at UHL has sought accelerated recruitment of consultants and supporting staff at UHL as an interim measure and as something important and meaningful that can be done while we are waiting for the bricks and mortar to be delivered. As the Minister of State knows, we unfortunately have 59 consultants per 100,000 in the mid-west versus the national average of 82 consultants per 100,000.
The Senator mentioned CAST. Superintendent Andrew Lacey drove this from the start. I have a had a lot of discussions with him. That is a sign of a positive initiative that should be replicated around the country. That is what we are hoping to do. It is really important that the staff are in place to deliver the vital services. I also compliment the regional executive officer, Sandra Broderick, who is open to discussions with all politicians and has made significant changes there.
I have some statistics. In December 2020 there were 141 consultants. In April 2026 there were 196, an increase of 55. That is a difference of 39% and is replicated across the region. I take on board what the Senator has said. I will bring back to the Minister the issue of accelerated recruitment because health has to be a top-down approach with the consultants leading. We are also hearing about Croom, Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's hospitals. I am embedded in the fact that healthcare is from the cradle to the grave but much of the healthcare is delivered in the community. When you have strong communities, it takes the pressure off the emergency department. The Senator's point is well made, and I will bring it back to the Minister for her attention.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 10.21 a.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 10.32 a.m.
Sitting suspended at 10.21 a.m. and resumed at 10.32 a.m.