Labour Party TD for Tipperary Alan Kelly has called on the Government to commit to the development of a new Model 3 hospital for the Mid-West.
A Model 3 hospital is defined as one that provides both elective and general surgical services, with an emergency department on site.
In comparison, a Model 2 facility typically deals with more minor issues and would not have round-the-clock emergency cover.
Mr Kelly said it was abundantly clear that the region needed additional health infrastructure and that a long-term solution needed to be prioritised.
He said the report from HIQA, offering a number of options to tackle overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick, could have been written ten years ago.
He said hospital capacity had been a problem since services in Ennis, Nenagh and St John's in Limerick were downgraded in 2009.
Mr Kelly said it was the view of "virtually everybody" in the Mid-West that a new hospital and new accident and emergency facilities were essential.
"If necessary, we can build that in stages, to deal with capacity," he added.
"But the idea that we’re just going to build another centre to be managed by UHL, or just going to expand [it], simply isn’t realistic," Mr Kelly.
He contends that the population of the region is such that a second 24/7 emergency care centre is needed.
Mr Kelly said having just one emergency department and channelling people from three counties through it was "insane" and he maintains that it is an insult to people like his parents and families across the region to not progress plans for a Model 3 hospital.
"The idea that we’re still looking at options is frankly an insult to my mum, who is in [Nenagh] hospital as I stand here today, to my dad who spent his last week in UHL last year and to all the other families across the Midwest who know that the situation is so bad that people don’t want to go through UHL, despite the work of all the staff, the nurses and the doctors," he said.
There have been calls across the Mid-West for swift action to be taken on the HIQA report to address the stark deficit in bed capacity in the region.
The Irish Medical Organisation said the findings are hugely concerning for patients and the medical workforce.
It said University Hospital Limerick is operating at a dangerous capacity, adding that the primary goal should be to support staff with the infrastructure they need to deliver safe care, rather than an improvement in productivity.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation also welcomed the report.
It said that since services were downgraded at Ennis, Nenagh and St John's hospitals in April 2009, over 176,870 patients have been on trolleys at UHL.
The INMO said this overcrowding jeopardises patient safety and negatively impacts the well-being of nurses at the Dooradoyle campus.
SF call on Govt to consider all options from HIQA
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health David Cullinane said all three options from HIQA need to be looked at by the Government.
Mr Cullinane said the "most obvious solution" is to expand one of the existing Model 2 hospitals and added Ennis would probably be best placed for that, given the capacity it currently has.
Mr Cullinane said upgrading the hospital would cost "an enormous amount of money" but said it has to come from the HSE.
He said the Government must act urgently to resource a plan to deliver a second emergency department and Model 3 hospital in the Mid-West, while simultaneously expanding safe capacity at UHL.
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He also said the mistakes made when Ennis and Nenagh were downgraded cannot be repeated.
Social Democrats TD Pádraig Rice said the region "urgently needs a Model 3 hospital".
In a statement, he said: "It's now three years since HIQA first stated that the absence of a Model 3 hospital in the region significantly impacted the effective workings of Limerick’s ED.
"That is why I am calling on the Minister for Health to urgently begin planning for a Model 3 hospital in the region, while also increasing UHL’s capacity to address the current and projected deficits.
"Potential planning delays or the experience of building the National Children’s Hospital must not be viewed as reasons not to progress with plans for a new hospital in the Mid-West.
"That would be short-sighted and a sign that the government has thrown in the towel on delivering much-needed public infrastructure on time, and within budget – goals that are fully achievable with political will and, crucially, the right contract and governance."
Additional reporting by Petula Martyn
