I welcome the arrival of the long-awaited report as it clearly sets out the urgency of the situation in the Midwest.
However, a report giving three mutually exclusive options without a clear preferred one risks creating more confusion, forcing more conversation and delaying action again.
Having read the report today, I find myself more confused than ever about what is the right answer.
There is no explanation as to why other options were not considered - such as a new offsite, modern, future-proofed model 4 hospital and the downgrading of University Hospital Limerick (UHL) to a model 3 facility.
I would not disagree with the report that today we do not need two model 4 facilities, but maybe we need a newer one.
Most worryingly, not one of the options solves all of the pressing problems the Midwest faces today and into the future. Why was there not a more ambitious blended option D which would do so?
In terms of next steps, we can at least however dismiss option A, as I believe we will quickly run out of road again by 2030/2040 and be back with more capacity issues and no space in Dooradoyle to solve them.
Is the answer a blend of option B and C?
Two things however are clear to me from the report.
We need more action and we need more land. I urge the Minister for Health, therefore, to give early funding approval to the HSE to buy that land. I will push for that with the Minister when I see her in a week or two. Give us a green light and I will immediately put our planners together with officials from the HSE to come up with a single preferred option with excellent connectivity in the region.
I should add that with the lack of clarity about the right future-proofed answer for Limerick in the report, I am giving consideration to convening local stakeholders and experts to discuss with me the conclusions of the report and agree what we believe is the right answer for Limerick and the broader Midwest region. Those discussions will then inform our other next steps.
We cannot lose any more time or we will lose more lives.