Dr. Sam Coulter Smith:

I wish to echo Dr. Mahony's thanks to members for the invitation to speak to the joint committee today. I hope we can be of some assistance to the joint committee's work. My name is Sam Coulter Smith and I am master of the Rotunda Hospital, where I am in the fifth year of a seven-year term. The Rotunda Hospital is the oldest maternity hospital in the country and one of the oldest such hospitals in the world.

Many of the comments that Dr. Mahony has made concerning the National Maternity Hospital are also applicable to the Rotunda, so I will not repeat all of that. It is important to recognise, however, that in the Rotunda we look after about 10,500 maternity patients annually.