Mr. Bernard Gloster:

Yes, and I welcome that. I welcome that in any service that I manage because the independence of regulation in the public interest is extremely importance. That said, I do not want to commit the regulator. I am interested in what my assurances are. There are issues with Limerick that are not understood well. Limerick has surge capacity within the hospital. It has a trolley problem and a trolley up the house problem and I intend to continue to be as honest about those figures as is needed.

We also have surge capacity, which is sometimes counted as trolleys but actually is quite appropriate to the care that needs to be provided. I have gone into the hospital. I have walked the floor of that hospital a couple of times this year already. I go in there quite regularly. One of the points I was making to Deputy Shortall is that I intend to demonstrate next week, when I publish figures, the exact position for the public. There will be no dressing it up or dressing it down. Sometimes we can see figures that almost catastrophise a position, and I do not think that is fair or in the public interest.

For Limerick this year, the same as every hospital group, including Christmas Day, I will be working. My management team will be working, and hospital management teams will be working to fully support every part of the system. The last part that I have great hope for is in the context of approaching the mid-west this year. It does not have a lot of private capacity, as the Senator knows. There are hospitals being built, which is welcome. However, the last part I have hope for this year is that we will do even more with regard to the public and community response with GPs' out-of-hours access to diagnostics. The community intervention team in Limerick is probably one of the best performing in the country. It is a multidisciplinary team that operates seven days a week. All of that is being ramped to the maximum degree. I spent eight hours on the road with the ambulance service in the mid-west recently, out on calls with them, to see exactly what the process is like from start to finish. There is a lot we can do to support Limerick, and it will be under pressure but I certainly will not be behind the door talking to people about that.