Mr. Tony O'Brien:

I omitted to address the Deputy's question in that respect. To be clear, Dr. Gray is not an employee of the HSE. He is employed by the board of the Adelaide and Meath Hospital. Liam Woods might be able to comment on the current position but that is an investigation of the hospital's. Clearly, there could be no criticism of any doctor who writes to the chief executive or another senior official of a hospital to raise concerns. I do not believe there was any intended. There were some concerns about the subsequent entry into the public domain of information which could have identified a patient and that patient's concerns, and obviously that would have to be examined. Liam Woods might say something extra on that if there is any current information, which there might not be.

I thank Deputy Fitzpatrick for his positive remarks about the staff of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. I have experience with that hospital and I can confirm that the staff there give of their best in what are often difficult circumstances. They will appreciate the Deputy sharing his experience in that regard.

The number of children who are awaiting admission in the emergency department at Crumlin at 8 a.m. this morning was one. No child had been waiting for an excessive period of time at that point. Typically, we would expect that to clear to zero during the day. It is relatively unusual.