Mr. Liam Woods:

We have had dialogue with the Private Hospitals Association, formerly known as the Independent Hospitals Association of Ireland, and we will have more shortly. As the Minister pointed out, we are engaging in a couple of areas of discussion. The Charter Medical service in Smithfield runs successfully and we are looking to expand it under the winter initiative so it can be used by GPs across the city, which would be welcome. We have discussed the accident and emergency department issue specifically with private hospitals. There may be some opportunity there and we are still exploring that with them. There are challenges. I have had dialogue with them about when we get into "surge" in the public system and if they have the capacity to support us or how it would work. Typically, we find that when we are in surge, so are they. To the extent that there is a capacity and we can use it, we are very open to that dialogue, which is ongoing as part of our preparation.