Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Whatever information is required by Mr. Shannon and Ms Gibbons to enable them to do their work will be undertaken as a matter of urgency. A Bill will be brought to Government, approved and brought into the House as soon as is practicable to enable that to happen in the coming weeks.

Issues exist which must be resolved and they can be resolved once a legal basis is provided for interaction between the Department and the HSE to take place in such a way that information can be shared. We will do that. All of us are anxious to ensure that is the case.

Deputy Gilmore raised a point in respect of the number of people involved. I do not know any more than the Deputy from where the figure of 200 people emerges. It may be the case that people have extrapolated it on the basis that, unfortunately, there have been six deaths in the past quarter or since January, and such people may have devised a mathematical conclusion from that for the past ten years. Perhaps then one could come to a figure of that order. However, I am unsure whether that is a fair presumption to make and it is not one that should be made. I agree I would rather have the exact figure available to give to the House today. However, during the past ten years and under the old health board structure these matters were dealt with at various regional levels. I agree this information should be available to us forthwith.

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