Cllr Daly used the example of a Mortuary in University Hospital Waterford as an example of what is supposed to happen when an “entire country condemns a health deficit”. In 2019, a letter by consultants outlining deplorable conditions at the mortuary cause a media frenzy and led to public outcries so deafening that a new Mortuary was built within two years.

“That mortuary had been identified as a serious issue by the HSE as early as 2004, but no action was taken… a familiar feeling for the people of Limerick,” Cllr Daly said. “It was finally listed on the HSE’s Capital Plan in 2014 but was forgotten about, until those brave consultants went public. The public outcry was so deafening that the Government had to listen and suddenly they had the money and the impetus to build a brand-new, top-quality mortuary facility”. Cllr Daly says that the delay in sorting out overcrowding at UHL’s Emergency Department is “beyond disappointing”.

“We have had numerous public protests about this and we’re still no better off,” Cllr Daly said. “Almost every day, UHL is in the papers for the dangerous situation in the Emergency Department and looking at the Trolley Count on Monday (May 13), it’s no surprise that once again we have the worst overcrowding situation in the country with ‘only’ 53 people on trolleys. “The closest hospital to us in numbers, Beaumont, had 24 patients on trolleys.”. The difference is, Beaumont Hospital has four Model 4 hospitals nearby and UHL doesn’t even have a Model 3 in its hospital group.”
Cllr Daly said that it was inevitable that the situation at the hospital would dominate the agenda for whomever is elected Mayor in June.

“I’ve heard media commentators, and indeed other candidates say that there is very little that the new Directly Elected Mayor can do for the situation in UHL and I couldn’t disagree more,” he said. “The role comes with a budget, and executive powers, but not only that, as the first role of its kind in Ireland it will come with a very high profile. I would be using that high profile, and every sinew of power that comes with it to make sure that our outcries are finally heard.”

A new 96 bed hospital unit is currently under construction but it could be late 2025, or early 2026 before it is operational, says Cllr Daly, and “this is not good enough”. “Last year, the Hospital Group said that the building would be completed by the end of 2024 but would need to be staffed and fitted out so it could be mid 2025 before it opens,” Cllr Daly said. “With HSE timelines, you can add at least six months to that. And what’s worse is that only 48 of those beds will be new ones. In 2023, the Hospital said that they needed 200 new beds to meet the current demand. The situation has gotten worse in that time, and we’ve had an unthinkable loss of life, and how many new beds did we get since then? Five. It’s simply not good enough and it’s time to ramp up our public outcries so the Government can start expediting new beds and new builds, like they have shown that they can do in the past.