Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I will certainly attempt to answer those questions I think are relevant to me, and the Secretary General might want to make one or two comments.

On spinal surgery for children, scoliosis being one of the conditions, I know a lot of anxiety has been expressed about this issue over a long time. A lot of work has been done on it and many improvements made. I have spent the past three days meeting with my team and with people from CHI, including Mr. David Moore, the surgeon leading the spinal unit there. It is important that, in the next few days, we communicate clearly to people because there is a lot of narrative about children waiting, how long they are waiting and what they are waiting for. A lot of progress has been made, however, and I hope people will see evidence of it.

Regarding primary care centres, the Deputy raised the issue of Maynooth with me the last time and the mini option of there being two small centres rather than one big centre. If I am not mistaken, I think my regional manager there had a meeting with public representatives to deal with this question.