David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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They have been closed with a resultant lack of capacity. Notwithstanding its size, Waterford has one hospital, St. Patrick's, trying to cover an entire city. Deputy Connolly stated earlier that people have no choice when they are told where to go and Mr. Marron came back, correctly, and said they did. In reality, they do not have a choice. I put that to him. It is a bit disingenuous to say that because, in reality, all public nursing home units are at full capacity. Trying to get a bed in St. Patrick's is like trying to find hens' teeth. The only option for people in that case is the private sector. If there are capacity problems in cities, people are being told the only places are ten, 20 and 30 miles from where they live with all the problems associated with that. That is the reality for families of patients because of a lack of capacity in the public system. While one can point to a technical choice, there is no choice if there are no available beds. The only option is outside people's environs.

My next question is to Mr. O'Brien and it relates to the cost of a bed in the public system versus the private system. We hear a great deal from private providers that the private system is cheaper. Can Mr. O'Brien elaborate on the level of care? He said earlier that the cost of the service was based on nursing and care. Is a different level of care provided in public facilities?