Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will talk about it. I thank the Deputy for a premature announcement of the summer recess. Had he tabled a question without any story in the national newspapers or anywhere else, the answer would have been that the Minister of State was considering a number of other proposals to make the structure more effective. I would have told the Deputy the truth, namely, that the Minister of State would report back to the Cabinet sub-committee at the end of May with his very valid proposition that we could do this but that it would be administratively and legally complex, involving the setting up of panels of doctors to assess patients and the expending of much energy for a cohort of 56,000 people who were very important, without dealing with what would happen in the longer term. I support him fully in that regard.

I am sorry the Deputy did not receive the figures sought. I do not know whether it involved Pony Express or Wells Fargo, but the figures left the office and are somewhere between it and the Deputy's office. When he receives them, he will find that they are perfectly valid.

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