I want to raise three questions, the first of which concerns the minor ailments scheme. It was also raised by the Irish Pharmacy Union. What is the proposal? I understand that under the IPU's proposal, if the minor ailments scheme was to be introduced nationally, there would be about 1 million fewer prescriptions written and that there would, therefore, be a huge saving from the point of view of GPs. There is a huge number of items that pharmacies cannot give out without a prescription. Is this issue being looked at both from a cost savings point of view and also from the point of view of saving time for GPs?

The second issue concerns step-down facilities. One of the issues in many hospitals arises where someone is admitted for reasonably minor surgery and has to be detained for two to three days. We then find that he or she is in hospital for anything up to seven or ten days. Is enough work being done to identify step-down facilities where the State would enter into a contract for the provision of these facilities? It would be far cheaper than having people in hospital and there would be a faster turnover in hospitals. Have we made any progress in trying to advance the provision of structured step-down facilities in each of the regional areas? I can go back to 2004 or 2005, when there was talk of building co-located private hospitals on public hospital grounds, when we should be looking seriously at building step-down facilities reasonably adjacent to public hospitals. Is that issue being looked at?

The other issue concerns children with disabilities.

I understand a few places such as the COPE Foundation and St. Michael's House which deal with children with disabilities have a scheme in place under which children with disabilities can stay with another family for a weekend to provide respite care for their parents. Could we have an expansion of that scheme? There are a huge number of families who want to make a contribution and they can do so by providing care for a child with disabilities over a weekend and, at the same time, giving some respite to his or her parents. It is a very effective way of providing the service. Is there any proposal to roll out the scheme further? I know that it has to be carefully established and managed, but it is up and running and operating well. Families who have become involved have found it extremely rewarding. At the same time, it is extremely helpful for parents with children to care for a child with disabilities.

I would appreciate responses on those three issues.