Mr. Ian Carter:

Let us consider the causal problem. The main reason for 151 or whatever number of discharges that I quoted is not the result of there being three community healthcare organisations, CHOs, that I deal with. To some extent it is a capacity issue. I do not have that level of delayed discharges because of three separate CHOs and the issue of inter-digitation. There is a capacity issue in Dublin. I refer to the piece that Ms Cowan alluded to earlier. For the past 20 years there has always been a difference in the provisions in the community in terms of volume and capacity vis-à-visLimerick and Dublin. That is why, and Mr. Woods can make a better contribution on this than me, there is not a long-term care problem in Limerick. There was not one 20 years ago when I was there as general manager. There has always been a problem with delayed discharges in Dublin. That is a capacity issue and not a control one.