Mr. Liam Woods:

In response to the points made in respect of the South Infirmary, the areas to which reference was made are subject to capital submission to the HSE. There is a dialogue going on. As part of the review of our total capital availability under the mid-term review, we will respond to the group in terms of what we can actually do. It is seen as a priority. The point made about the nature of the current facility is fully accepted.

On the point about anomaly scanning, the new clinical lead for the women and infants programme is taking up office on 1 March and one of his first acts will be to put in place arrangements for access to anomaly scans across the system. As the committee is aware from previous responses, that is not universally available. From recall, it is only in approximately six of the 19 units at the most. Peter McKenna, who has been appointed as clinical lead, will undertake a very quick review of that and seek to put arrangements in place in the short term for access across the country and then identify the requirements both in terms of personnel, facility and equipment to deliver on that in the medium term. The most urgent task will be to arrange access where it is not available from within our current capacity or by brief expansion. After that, there will be a requirement to recruit and equip. That is referenced further in the response. That is all I have to say in response to the questions.