Martin seeks €50m injection for hospitals

Health Minister Micheál Martin wants €50 million the same amount spent on the scuppered electronic voting system to kit out and staff vital hospital units and services.

Mr Martin has advised Cabinet colleagues that €400 million worth of newly built hospital facilities are lying idle because he doesn't have the money to open them up.

The funding would enable the opening of hundreds of hospital beds and the hiring of up to 1,500 staff, thereby slashing waiting lists and vastly improving available health services in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and elsewhere.