Professor Colette Cowan:

I met the Minister once when he came to Limerick and visited the emergency department for the evening. He spent a long time with our staff, he spoke to our nurses and to our doctors privately. I was not in attendance at those meetings, which was right. He met the management team and we had long discussions with the chief clinical directors, who set out what the mid-west region needed. An elective hospital came up in those discussions. We have had no further discussion on that because, as I understand it, it is under review by the Government. That review will be advised accordingly through the HSE on the decisions, but we would like to be considered in the review process.