Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Before we move on from the capital funding, I am a little concerned. Mr. Woods was mentioning the side-by-side services and it seems that they are now going through capital funding, even though they are described in some cases as new units. However, the low-risk birthing centres are potentially relatively low-cost and I am concerned that they may well fall by the wayside if we are talking about these major projects that are under way. I wonder what Mr. Woods' vision is on that. What is the timeline for the 19 centres we are talking about? Does Mr. Woods see all of them being included and developed with side-by-side facilities coming in in the next three years? Where does that fit in? When one has grand-scale projects a core change happens. One of the core demands was for these parallel services and options. I would like to hear a lot more about where they are coming from and fitting in, rather than just being on an application list for capital funding.

This is a question on funding from our colleague, Deputy O'Connell, who had to leave but she hopes to come back later. The question concerns the sum of €52 million and the front-loading of €12 million a year over the next three years. From what we are hearing it does not seem to be adequate. Mr. Woods is talking about improving a service, yet he is also talking about a great deficit. Does Mr. McGrane think the funding is adequate? Let us signal early on if we feel it may not be adequate so that we can identify it. Perhaps the witnesses could deal with those points before we move on from funding and the question of capital.