Mayo TDs called to act as multiple ambulances queue outside Mayo University Hospital 

Mayo’s TDs have been called to act after multiple ambulances were left queuing outside Mayo University Hospital this afternoon (Monday). 

At least seven ambulances queued outside the hospital as 20 patients were recorded on trolleys earlier this morning. 

The Castlebar hospital’s emergency department has experienced severe overcrowding in recent times, recording 38 patients on trolleys on January 20. 

Local county councillor Harry Barrett said that lives were being put at risk by the situation and called on Mayo’s TDs to raise the matter in the Dáil. 

“This is not just an overcrowding issue—it is an emergency. Lives are being put at risk due to a health system that is failing the people of Castlebar and the county,” he said. 

The Independent councillor said there had been ‘little progress on expanding the emergency department’ despite repeated promises. 

A proposed redesign of the existing emergency department (ED) is currently at design phase. This will involve a new ground floor extension, reconfiguration of the existing ED to provide seven additional assessment and treatment spaces, a medical assessment unit with ten spaces, and reconfiguration of C Ward to facilitate the new and provide additional isolation rooms. 

A submission for capital funding for a new ambulance base in Castlebar is also currently being prepared.

Cllr Barrett added that ‘no meaningful action’ had been taken to recruit more doctors to work in Mayo. 

“Patients and frontline healthcare workers are bearing the brunt of this failure while government representatives remain silent,” said Cllr Barrett. 

“I am calling on all Mayo TDs to urgently raise this crisis in the Dáil. We need immediate measures to tackle the lack of acute hospital beds, the severe doctor shortages, and the unacceptable ambulance delays. This is not just about numbers—this is about real people, our neighbours, our families, and our communities suffering due to government inaction.

“The people of Castlebar and County Mayo deserve better. They deserve a functioning health service. If our TDs fail to fight for this in the Dáil, they are failing the very people who elected them. The time for excuses is over—we need action, and we need it now.”