Galway Bay fm newsroom -
The Dáil has heard that UHG cannot afford to go back to pre-pandemic levels of overcrowding.
The issue was raised by Galway West Deputy Mairéad Farell, who told Taoiseach Micheál Martin that UHG has recently been one of the most overcrowded hospitals nationwide.
The Sinn Féin Deputy raised the long-running lack of progress in lodging a planning application for a new emergency department.
An application was expected to be lodged in 2018 - but the project has since been redesigned and there is currently no date for a planning application.
Recent high-level meetings have indicated it's not possible to give an estimate at this time - but did admit a new emergency department is still years away.
Addressing the Taoiseach in the Dáil, Deputy Farrell said patients cannot afford to wait that long.
