Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

At the end of the day, if you are looking for an appointment in the Mater and you have to be there for a particular reason, we are trying to maximise services. What there needs to be - and I have spoken to the Minister, Dara Calleary and the Minister of State, Jerry Buttimer about this - is a better understanding of the rural transport needs, both for health and disability, because there are a number of voluntary services that the State is partnering with that are amplifying each other, and that is good, but the HSE is not a transport company and never should be. However, it is also true to say that we need a better understanding of the combination of State and volunteer services. I have met Volunteers Ireland to try to get a complete list of all the health- and disability-based volunteer services, where the State is partnering or where it is not partnering.