The HSE is progressing a proposal to provide a temporary modular unit at Mayo University Hospital to provide additional treatment cubicles and increase capacity as a temporary measure - the HSE said this week in answering a question from Independent Cllr Michael Kilcoyne to the Regional Health Forum.
However Cllr Kilcoyne said that this will not go far enough - speaking to the Mayo Advertiser this week Cllr Kilcoyne said: ""This modular building is going on the last three or four years. They are building a small one.
"I asked them for the number of people it will accommodate, I was told that it would be seven people, that is all it will take. No use whatsoever, a waste of time. You need a proper modular building there, you need a proper permanent building there - it is going on four four or five years and it will go on for another four or five years."
In further response to Cllr Kilcoyne's question the HSE said that: "The project is being progressed as Covid Emergency works for Winter 2020 and as such is exempt for the requirement to obtain planning permission.
"Separately a feasibility study is currently being finalised to scope a proposed project for a rapid build permanent extension to the current Emergency Department along with the relocation of the Medical Assessment Unit to the first floor of the proposed extension. This feasibility study will establish the overall project cost estimate and approval will then be sought to progress the project in 2021."
