Mr. Bernard Gloster:

From a service perspective, unfortunately when anybody sees any type of constraint on or control of how we use what we have, they might chose to represent that as a cut. The simple reality is, if you take a €6 billion increase and take out pricing factors and everything else out of that, that is at least a 50% increase in investment. Due to demand and many other things, but also due to lack of modernisation, our performance has not matched that demand and if you still end up with a waiting list people call it a cut. It is not a cut. I have been in this job for ten months. I have not spoken about the narrative of cuts. We have spoken about how we use what we have better, demonstrate to the people of Ireland how we are using the money they are giving us, and how we deliver the best service possible. Those three variables do not always line up, as the Deputy knows, in public narrative.