Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all the witnesses and thank them for coming. Unfortunately, being last, many of the questions I wanted to ask have been asked already. I will start by reiterating what my colleague, Senator Colm Burke, said about the lack of respite care, etc., for people with special needs, particularly in Cork South-West. It is a huge problem, particularly for parents who are now entering into the last part of their lives. If things could be planned together and with a guarantee that their children would be looked after when they either pass away or get too ill to mind them, it would give them great comfort. I ask the witnesses to look at this.

In Mr. Mulvany's first point, he talked about the overrun relating to unfunded cost growths. Does he have an exact cost for the cross-Border initiative? I know it is an EU incentive and, obviously, plans are up in the air now with Brexit. Even though this is a good scheme, I often wonder, if the HSE must pay anyway, is there any way around planning for this such that the money could be made available to people who are unable to travel, say, to Belfast or particularly from Cork South-West - it is a long journey to Belfast - to have their cataracts treated in the South?