Mr. Jim Breslin:

I will take the question on section 39. I will not commit to resolving it. Mr. O'Brien could talk to the GP contract process and the compassionate access scheme for cannabis.

There are two issues in respect of section 39 agencies. We could concentrate on one or the other. One is the question of public service and parity with the public service. As Mr. O'Brien said, that has quite wide implications. Although section 39 agencies are a very significant component of the health service, there are other sectors across government whereby voluntary agencies are funded from the public purse. It is not possible to unilaterally to take a view on that. The matter will have to be addressed centrally.

The second issue the Senator flagged concerned whether cost increases within a section 39 agency affect funding. Without answering the first question, Mr. O'Brien said the HSE and Department of Health had not received funding for restoration. The mechanism for the funding relationship is the service level agreement which involves individual discussions rather than sector wide discussions. That is very much predicated on individual discussions not being able to set public service wide pay policy. They can only deal with the realities of costs as they present themselves.

On compassionate access-----