Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I think part of the rationale for the HIQA review is the fact that the mid-west region has grown. As colleagues will be aware, it is by a long way the smallest region when we look at the HSE regions. It is about half the size of the next smallest region. On the points Deputy Shortall was making that there are not the model three hospitals, we are looking at that. Part of the historic reason for that is the mid-west region has about 8% of the population. The next smallest region has 14%. It is about a third of the size of the largest region. As the Deputy rightly says, the mid-west region is growing. I look forward to seeing what HIQA comes back with in terms of an analysis of that growing population and, indeed, ageing population. As we know, over 65s, 75s and 85s have much higher demand for both community and acute care. It is not just the number of people. To a large extent, it is the number of older people as well.