James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

To reassure the Deputy opposite, protecting the front-line services still remains a priority and everything will be done to achieve this, notwithstanding the extremely challenging financial position in which we find ourselves. I reject any notion that there has been a massaging of figures. In a previous answer, I made clear how the figures were reached. Anyone waiting on a list before December 2010 was included as being a possible person who was still waiting and had to be treated by the end of December 2011. This amounted to 14,000 people and the fact this number now is in the low hundreds, all of which relate to Galway, speaks for itself in respect of the great efforts made by the service to achieve this goal. Moreover, as I stated, the target for the coming year is nine months, that is, no one will be left waiting for a procedure for longer than nine months.

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