The Health Minister has pledged to enhance services at Ennis Hospital, but has given no commitment to emergency care in Clare. During her official announcement today, Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has described a new "strategic site" acquired in Limerick to solve hospital overcrowding in the MidWest as "HIQA's Option B and C Plus." Health Minister Jennifer Carrol MacNeill visited Limerick this morning, where she confirmed details of the Midwest's new hospital. The Minister has described the €14 million, 43.8 acre site in Raheen as a strategic site for the MidWest Health system for the next thirty years, located a 28 minute drive away from Ennis and Nenagh. Her next step will be to appoint a project development board, which will develop healthcare services for the overall region and a report is due to be published later this year that will recommend additional services are provided in Clare. Last September, the Department of Health pledged to progress all three of HIQA's recommendations to solve hospital overcrowding in the region. The options included expanding the University Hospital Limerick Campus, extending the campus to another nearby site and delivering a new Model 3 hospital with a new ED in the MidWest. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill believes Option B and C can be delivered in Raheen. During her announcement today, which Clare media were not invited to attend, the Minister said emergency care in the region had to be expanded and that having two model 4 hospitals within 10 minutes of each other was a possibility. She also hasn't ruled out moving the maternity hospital to the Raheen site. Over 40% of Clare's population lives more than an hour's drive from their nearest Emergency Department and the Minister said her vision for Ennis's progression is similar to that of Bantry General Hospital in Cork, which doesn't have an ED or proposals for one. Despite this, Minister Carroll MacNeill insists Clare "was at the centre of their plans" in the MidWest.