Mr. Bernard Gloster:

Regarding the legal basis, CHI is set up under a very particular and quite complex piece of legislation. For that reason the Minister indicated 2027 for a full migration. There is a very complex legislative unwinding to be done, and the CHI legislation itself comprised the bringing together of three other previously separate entities. However, the decision on CHI was primarily because CHI has brought together the three hospitals. It will bring them into the one new hospital. Essentially, the CHI project to that extent would have been achieved. I certainly recommended to the Minister that I believe the full integration of the national children's hospital into the full health system is a better way of integrating the service. We do not need two governance systems. That is that piece.

Regarding the decision on other section 38 entities and hospitals, fundamentally it is a decision for Government as to the structure of the health service and how many governance systems there are. The Minister has been on the record as saying, as have I, that there are too many governance systems for the size of the island. Fundamentally, that is a call the Government has to make.

The job of the HSE in the meantime, regardless of that structure, is to get a better level of consistency across the whole health service, including public and section 38 bodies, a better level of control, standardised systems and consistency so the public benefits to the maximum.