Mr. Tony O'Brien:

Absolutely. The Deputy is correct about the strategically important role of intermediate care vehicles. We think that role will grow in the future. When I was in Limerick in recent weeks - the Deputy might recall that we were in contact with each other on Twitter on that occasion - I heard directly about the benefits for the movement of patients among the hospitals in the mid-west hospitals group that are being derived as a result of the direct deployment of an intermediate care vehicle to that group. The use of such vehicles will need to expand nationally in the coming years