Mr. Liam Woods:

The volume of people going through local injury units is up 11% this winter by comparison with last winter and, in fact, up 29% in one site, St. Columcille's. We ran an online campaign and a radio campaign, which we are re-running for the very purpose the Deputy describes, to make people aware of the service that is available. We are seeing an increasing uptake.

On Clonmel, the community intervention team has been very successful and has delivered and supported the hospital well over the winter. We are already proceeding, under the winter initiative from 2016-17, with the investment of €700,000 in the 11-bay unit in the hospital, with which the Deputy is probably familiar, while we are considering the wider capacity question. As the Deputy rightly states, the framework agreement is now in place for us to go to tender for portable solutions for hospital sites across the country. The first example of that may well be in Clonmel.