Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I will attempt to give the best parts of the answers I have. I am not sure if colleagues in the Department have additional information. With regard to the number the Deputy refers to on the gynaecology waiting list I really would need to look at the breakdown of the time waiting. I just need to get that for the Deputy. If I do not have it before the end I will certainly give her a written answer on it. Obviously the same people are not on the waiting list all of the time. There have been accelerated moves towards ambulatory gynaecology centres. We are now seeing a growth in the increase of referrals to them because of the availability of the centres. That is not to say that for some people there are not waits that are unacceptable. The Minister and I recently met a large group of women who live with endometriosis and we have made some very significant interventions in response to them in terms of capacity here in Ireland, supporting them where they need to access treatment abroad and building the services here. Quite a bit of that will be published in the next week. I will certainly get the overall gynaecology waiting list waiting time. It is the waiting time I will comment on in the answer.

I am not familiar of a plan for Mullingar hospital for the sexual assault treatment unit, SATU. I am aware that it is an excellent service. In my previous life I had a role in relation to SATU. Forensic medical examination, FME, in 72 hours is critical for victims of sexual assault it I absolutely take the Deputy's point about the environment they are in. We will certainly look at that with the Department. I would be very happy to make any helpful intervention that we could.

On the assessment of need, to be fair to my colleagues who are present, it is a different line department. I did put up an ad last week. I insisted not only that it went up but that it was advertised widely. It was in response to the Cabinet committee on disabilities and to campaigns like that of young Cara Darmody, who I met again for the second time just a few months ago. People were saying to me that, first of all, the private sector use we were using was too inconsistent. There just were not enough uniform standards being applied. The second thing was the belief that there was private capacity we were not using while we had such bad waiting lists. We have dreadful waiting lists. I re-advertised the framework for two purposes: to see if all the private capacity is being used, and I stress safe, private capacity as opposed to some of the more questionable ones; and that it is being applied across a consistent level. The clinical community told me that the particular need was in the autism space. The Deputy had raised with me before - I know on a sidebar - the issue of acceptance of reports from private clinicians by our assessment of need officers. I have made it very clear that I would want to know what is the basis or reason on which an assessment of need officer would not accept a HSE procured and approved assessment. The automatic assumption is, therefore, that they will be accepted.