Mr. Kilian McGrane:

I will keep my comments brief and will focus on areas that have not been touched on already. Senator Burke asked about the gynaecology service in Cork. I am sure he is aware of the plan that was developed last year. Approximately €1 million was invested in Cork University Maternity Hospital last year to try to address that. The hospital hit its target of 1,500 new patients last year, which was a very positive development. The additional resources that are going in are not as much as the hospital authorities would like, as set out in the original plan. Approximately 50% of what they were looking for is going in this year. We will work closely with them to try to address that. It is not going to address it in the short term. There will be a phased approach. We will require our strategic plan for gynaecology to be developed to say that we have set targets. It is only when we set targets and resource the institutions to deliver on those targets that we will make meaningful progress.