Mr. Bernard Gloster:

The first point to make is that I will never shy from asking for additional approval to add capacity, given where we are at right now. To be fair to everybody, including the public, the remaining balance of beds from the total provision from 2021 and 2022 of some 1,228 will be delivered in 2023, amounting to some 200 or whatever is left. The first thing I have to do, which is in the control of the HSE, is to deliver those beds that are already approved. To be fair to the public and all sides of the Oireachtas, there is not much point in my asking for more if I am not able to show form for being able to deliver what I have been given. That is what I talked about earlier-----