Mr. Peter Murphy:

It is important to bear in mind that the services provided under the HSE agreements are not the only activities in which most organisations are involved. As stated earlier, over the past ten years we have invested more than €1 million in epilepsy research. We do a great deal of fundraising for those purposes. We apply the income we accrue through fundraising to other things like public awareness and public education activities. As indicated, we have a particular advocacy role that is not necessarily funded by the HSE. There are many other activities. There are ongoing operational costs associated with administration and governance. It is understandable that nobody really wants to pay for such costs, but they have to be paid for. Fundraising is currently supplementing what appears to be an actual contract for services. The HSE contracts particular services which cost X, but it pays just 80% or 85% of X. A commercial operator would have walked away from such an agreement many years ago. One of the big advantages of this sector is that our organisations will not walk away from their missions and objectives just because 10% or 15% of funding is missing. We will find ways. We will get rid of non-essential costs. We will slash things that are more essential, such as staff training. We will raise funds. I will mention a great example that relates to CHO 2 in the west, which is funded to a very low extent. For a number of years, a large and popular cycling event was very successful in raising funds that helped to supplement the services provided in CHO 2. The money from that event was used to support something that, in theory, the State is paying for through the HSE. Regardless of whether a body is 5%-funded or 95%-funded under its contract, its obligations remain the same. It is important to point out that under our service level agreement, we have the same obligations in respect of €3,800 that a much larger organisation might have in respect of €20 million. The key point is that our organisations are not going to walk away from meeting the needs of our service users. I am not sure that could necessarily be said of a private operator in a similar position.