Mr. Tony O?Brien:

The infrastructure in Galway is not the only poor or inadequate. In my opinion, there is a mismatch - and I have articulated this to other Oireachtas committees - between the proportion of revenue that is spent on health and the proportion of the capital budget that is spent on health. There is also the collective reality for the entire State that prior to the economic collapse it was intended to invest in capital health infrastructure at roughly double the rate we have been able to afford as a result of that collapse. This is compounded in health by the fact that in what we understood - perhaps incorrectly - to be the economic boom time, there was quite a significant investment in equipment, much of which is now at the end of its serviceable life. There is a huge capital requirement there.