Mr. Liam Woods:

I will.

Deputy Durkan made a couple of statements on wait times, with which I agree in terms of length of time. On any audit of the system of referral, to answer the Deputy's point the NTPF audits waiting list processes from time to time and consequently, there is an audit. We have dealt with the age profile point. The Deputy asked about how many facilities are down at any one time, perhaps referring to the opportunity to use more intensively theatre and other facilities that are available but not in use, potentially at night and the like. A theatre productivity programme has been undertaken in the HSE to ensure we get optimum capacity but it also extends into working day and bed capacity. Clearly, doing more operations requires more beds and more staff. That ties into the capacity dialogue on the 2,600 beds. The Deputy referred to performance at hospital level being an issue, and that is true. There are variations. This touches on Deputy Donnelly's question. On competition among providers being a good thing, that was a view.

Deputy O'Connell raised the retention of graduates and asked why retention of graduates was improving. I will ask Ms Cowan to answer that.