I thank the Minister and the new director general of the HSE, to whom I wish every success. I look forward to working with him. A great deal of focus this morning has been on healthcare in Dublin. I want to get the message across that healthcare is provided in other parts of the country too. In particular, I want to focus on Cork. I submitted a question to the health committee last November on the elective hospital for Cork. I was advised that no progress had been made on that matter in real terms. However, I received a document dated September 2018, which sets out that the HSE proposed the establishment of a project team. That project team has now met and consists mainly of people from the HSE. There are 12 people on the board, nine of whom are from the HSE, one is from the South Infirmary hospital and one of whom is from the Mercy Hospital. However, the South Infirmary is the main elective hospital in Cork, which suggests the board is not properly constituted. I want some explanation as to why the joint committee was not given the full information in November when the question was put in and as to what the proposal is now on prioritising the building of an elective hospital in Cork. There has been a huge growth in the population of Cork and the southern region generally. While we are building three new hospitals in Dublin, we need to focus attention on the regions also. I seek clarification on how it is purposed to move forward with the project team for this hospital, on the timeline for identifying a site and on the planning process. That is my first question. I want to ensure the focus is not totally on healthcare in Dublin. There are also places outside Dublin which provide healthcare.

My understanding is that there are more than 500 vacant consultant posts currently. People go on about waiting lists, but one will have waiting lists if one does not have someone available at the head of a team to conduct clinics and so on. Across Europe, one third of all medical practitioners are over 60 years of age. That is the figure for every country across Europe. As such, we are now competing for consultants in a world market. I understand that some consultant posts are being advertised in respect of which no applications are being received. How do we propose to review that issue to make it attractive for people to come back to Ireland or stay if they are already here? We are competing with New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA. What are we going to do over the next 12 months to make it more attractive for people to apply for posts being offered in Ireland?

We talk about waiting lists and hospital clinics. Over 12 months ago, I raised the issue of haemochromatosis and a very straightforward procedure for blood to be taken monthly to address high iron levels. I have worked with GPs in Cork who wanted to provide this service to avoid people having to attend hospital. I cannot understand how such little progress has been made on this issue. There are a number of other areas where GPs are prepared to provide services and, as a result, to keep people from having to attend outpatient clinics in hospitals. Has the HSE or the Department identified services which are currently being provided to large numbers of people in hospitals that could be provided in the community? In relation to haemochromatosis, the GPs involved had long discussions with UCC, the medical practitioners in Cork and the blood bank on co-ordinating a service. I ask the Minister and Mr. Reid to deal with those three issues.