The Department of Public Expenditure has been criticised over the hurdles large projects have had to clear. Photograph: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
At University Hospital Limerick last month, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill officially opened an extension aimed at tackling the chronic overcrowding that has affected patients in the midwest for years.
The Minster promised that it would be just the beginning of measures to increase capacity; by 2031, an additional 572 inpatient beds would be delivered.
The new ward block comprised 96 beds.
But doctors attending the opening believed that two or possibly three similar developments were needed to meet demand for healthcare.
Standing at the site that day, Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe wondered why the new extension ran to five storeys when there was immediate demand for much more hospital capacity in the region.
“I made the point that we should build up ... go to 10 or 12 storeys,” he said.
“I wrongly believed that there was some planning barrier to this. They [doctors] told me it was because of the €200 million spending cap.”
Crowe told the Dáil last week that this spend
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