Mr Tony O'Brien:

We certainly will.

As regards the budget of Mullingar hospital, consistent with taking out €121 million of expenditure from the health service this year, a number of budget day decisions were made. There were specific items which, when distributed, do result in a reduction in the budget in Mullingar. However, they do not result in as large a reduction as might otherwise have been the case. There are various issues which, when translated through Croke Park II, will deal to a large extent with those. However, this is balanced by the fact that the hospital is to receive funding in the context of the opening of eight new beds, which are the result of an assessment of its bed capacity requirement. It is impossible to take out that type of funding - some €3.5 billion in recent years - without individual locations suffering budget reductions. It is simply not feasible.

Similarly, as regards an overall reduction of nearly 11,000 staff at this stage from the health service, with more to go this year, that will have an impact on situations such as we are seeing in Carndonagh where the level of staff when assessed by HIQA led to the reduction in the number of beds temporarily, while the local health office makes alternative arrangements to bring staffing up to the necessary levels.

While there is a general moratorium on recruitment it is not so inflexible as to prevent us from responding to particular situations, and the local health office is seeking to do that in Donegal at the moment.