Dr. Gabrielle Colleran:

The Deputy asked how high the overall health spend was relative to other countries in the OECD. The €4.5 billion spent on acute hospitals is well below the figure for the OECD. Mr. Varley was asked what was needed to provide a service. I would compare Ireland with Scotland in that context. Representatives from the Scottish system visited us recently and had a very productive meeting with the Minister for Health. It has twice the number of consultants and 30% more beds. I ask the Government to give us the staff and the capacity to enable us to do our jobs. We do not want to be here throwing stones at the Minister; we want to work with the committee, to be leading, innovating and providing care for patients, for whom we are responsible.