Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately it was the frost. The Minister's aunt would fill him in. I was following proceedings online all the way up.

With reference to a question Deputy Hourigan asked, the Minister was providing a briefing note on the primary certificates. That is important and the Minister might circulate that to us all.

I refer to an issue in the mid-west about the 60-bed modular accident and emergency unit. In a response to me in the Seanad on the Minister's behalf, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, confirmed that the unit was going to be operational on 9 November which is next Monday. Will the Minister confirm that that is still the case and that patients will be accepted in the new 60-bed modular unit from next Monday onward?

We had the track and trace people in here last week. As of last Wednesday when they were before us, they confirmed to us that they were not asking the full suite of questions that they had been prior to the hiccup that happened three or four weeks ago. The Minister might confirm if they are now asking the full suite of questions and if they are totally back on track with that.

I welcome what the Minister said today about the 140,000 capability and the 40% reduction in testing. It is extremely welcome.

Section 39 companies that are funded by the HSE is an issue I raised when Sláintecare representatives were in. I am curious as to whether the Minister is doing a root and branch review of the funding of section 39 companies because from my observations there is huge inequity there. Some such companies are funded up to 90% of their costs whereas others providing a similar level of service are only getting 70% of their costs funded. That is a job of work that does need to be done because we are talking about billions of euro which the Minister negotiates for his Department which needs to be reviewed.