Mr. Paul Reid:

What is happening in hospitals across the State is that they are all under great pressure from the demands being placed on them. I am engaged in a process with the hospitals to look at the existing budgets they have to deliver all those services. Regarding University Hospital Waterford, that hospital has been doing a number of things to best utilise its resources, particularly during the summer. That also involves theatre usage and the best use of resources during that period. The hospital is undertaking some operational changes that make sense for it. I am not setting out the plan for each individual hospital or each group. They are working through this themselves regarding their overall budgets.