Mr. Jim Breslin:

-----of an individual. The policy is that it will go back to the individual who has been the subject of the test. As Dr. Holohan has referred to, there have been delays with negative tests. A negative test is the one less concerning to the contact tracer. As Dr. Holohan has outlined, we have now automated that, so that will flow very readily. Up to 97% of cases will go back with a text message.

On the private hospitals, I would not agree that 45% of people have been excluded. The private hospitals are open to the whole community at this stage. It is a clinical judgment as to who gets admitted. That will not be decided on somebody's insurance. That equally means, if somebody is insured and it is clinically necessary for them to be admitted, then they are eligible for admission.

On the number of surgeons, I do not have the exact number. However, I would not expect the type of huge bias that the Deputy is inferring. Surgeons need hospitals. In order to practise, they would want to have access to private hospitals. There are some other specialties which do not need hospitals as much. They can do much of their work in an outpatient setting. They may be less represented in the numbers which signed up. We have not experienced a major problem in terms of surgeons different from other doctors. We have had some delay in everybody signing up but not specific to surgeons.

I was not going to comment on the cath lab but I do know the full extent of the concern, the issues and all the work that has gone in both by the HSE and nationally.