Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a useful discussion and the Minister of State can see it is genuine. At best, one would question the profitability of even the private sector in this area. They operate on a shoestring and, if they operate for a profit, they are waiting for that profit and are just about lucky to get their own wages out of it. Like Deputy Creed for his area, I can list all the towns in County Laois where both services exist quite close to each other. While I know where the Minister of State is coming from, both services are operating in quite a few provincial towns.