David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

I ask that we invite in officials from the voluntary hospitals. It is important that the voluntary hospitals be funded and play ball. They are almost exclusively funded by the HSE. Two of those hospitals will be the first to be asked to roll out the service. It is important that the Government and Opposition combined put their muscle and weight behind this.

I have a final question for Mr. Gloster. We had the director of the National Ambulance Service here a number of weeks ago. I asked him whether he was in receipt of an allowance. He refused to answer the question. Subsequently, Mr. Gloster wrote to the committee. Should it have taken writing to the committee for it to get an answer to a straight question on whether a senior executive in the HSE or the National Ambulance Service is in receipt of an allowance?