Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

I tried to set it out a little in the statement. The reference words "as appropriate" are a direct lift from the original Sláintecare report. It is not something I inserted. In terms of focusing on the role of the RHAs, we agree with the principle of subsidiarity in that what can be done locally below or at an RHA should be done at that level. That has to be balanced with national consistency. The aim of integrated care and population-based resource allocation is to give each part of the country at least an equitable share of the available resource on the assumption that they will then go and try to remove those inequities that exist between different parts of the country for different services. All that has to be done locally. It has to be done at a regional and local level. When I say that the RHAs will have an influence on the what, we need to have an agreed set of objectives for local services so that the citizen or member of the public can broadly get the same service. That has to be agreed once and that has to be agreed centrally. As I set out, the intent would be that the RHAs would have a significant influence on that. It is a collaborative effort between RHAs, ourselves, the Department and other stakeholders.