Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)

To go back to the earlier question in relation to the money that was invested in the Magee campus in Derry. What impact, if any, will that have in the longer term for health services in Northern Ireland and the Border counties?

The second question is in relation to the North-South committee that was mentioned. I do not get how we would move forward to a policy on issues like this before the research is done. I just do not get that because for me the research drives this. That research is not done yet, so I think we need to hold back on setting up any committees. Moreover, as I mentioned earlier, there is the political piece in all of this. Health will not be decided until all the other Departments are ready as well. That will be a political piece, a bit like how the Good Friday Agreement was the one time on the island that we got people to say yes across the board. It may end up in a referendum. What is very clear today is that, while the combination is really good, there is a whole lot of work to be done here. We are not nearly at the committee level yet. We need to know the status quo, North and South, before we set down an agreement. Why would we sit down in a room with people when we do not know the status quo? We are not at that point yet. That has been made clear to me today. We need more research and we need to get it done sooner rather than later because that is the catalyst for how we move forward, the basis for moving forward and how we can improve and learn from each other, because I have no doubt there is a lot of learning to be done as well.

In relation to cancer services, we do not need to go to Denmark. I was in these Houses when Mary Harney brought in her strategy. Within five years, we had brought in the eight centres. That is why we have the service in the north west. We would have had to travel to Galway for services that are now 20 minutes up the road.

Some of these decisions are hard for politicians to take because they have real-life impact for their constituents.

In the context of all these things we talk about when it comes to sitting down and reaching agreement, we cannot agree on anything without having a budget to implement what we decide. We are rolling out primary care centres across the country at a fair rate. We are also rolling out step-down beds in the South. From what our witnesses said today, it is not happening in the North. A lot of money is required in that regard. The €2 billion in the shared island fund will not go very far, particularly as we have put tens of billions into the health service in the South over the past five years. There is no point in agreeing to anything until there is a budget in place. There is an awful lot to be agreed. I thank the witnesses for their input.