Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is a very relevant question and I welcome the opportunity to answer it. All members have a breakdown of the €7.8 million per individual CHO. The CHOs were then tasked with addressing it and they set their own timelines and targets. I did not set them. As part and parcel of that, they had to engage with private providers to have the assessments done in a timely fashion because this is time sensitive. They went out and spoke to other section 38 and 39 organisations and some private providers. They also spoke with the HSE, which had given staff the option of working extra hours or overtime if they wanted. The money has already left the Department of Health and it has been given in its entirety. I asked about this matter last week because I wanted to see more progress. That money has been given in its entirety. As the Deputy can see from the figures, and I can get other figures for any Member who wants them, all the organisations that have signed up to this are making progress, right across the board. The money will be there to ensure everybody gets an assessment in a timely fashion and that the backlog is cleared. We are engaging with private providers to do that.