I acknowledge that there are difficulties in the acute hospital sector this year as a result of a tighter budgetary situation that is further compounded in the Dublin area due to significant deficits accumulated in recent years by the Dublin area teaching hospitals. These difficulties can only be resolved within the existing statutory framework, including the 1996 accountability legislation. I must have regard to that process. By statutory framework, I mean the establishment of the Eastern Regional Health Authority that was undertaken by both Houses of the Oireachtas. The legislation in question gave responsibility for the authority to deal with the hospitals under its remit in terms of funding and the purchasing and contracting of services. It is within that statutory context that the current issues must be resolved.