Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise with the Taoiseach the issue of Ballyshannon Community Hospital. After a long refurbishment project and the construction of a large extension, the hospital has reopened on the site of the old Sheil hospital in Ballyshannon. I attended the reopening with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and many other dignitaries. Everyone was there and everyone was delighted to see this new facility being put in place. It is an 80-bed facility but fewer than 30 of those beds are occupied due to staff shortages. That was the case when the hospital opened a couple of months ago and it is still the case today. When the State is spending a lot of money, as it needs to, to provide services for older people in a town like Ballyshannon, we need to have the staff in place to ensure those facilities can be utilised to their full potential.

That is not happening. We need to step up to the mark. The Government needs to employ the staff that are required, nurses and others, to ensure that those beds can be occupied. There are people in hospital who cannot get out of hospital. They want to go home or get to other services. This is creating a situation which is simply intolerable in a small area where this community needs it.

See this speech in context