Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I will not have a major philosophical debate. The purpose of co-location is to decant private activity from a public hospital into a privately funded facility. Taking Tallaght Hospital in my constituency as an example, 46% of the elective work carried out in 2005 was for private patients. The hospital has a large hive of private activity. The Government is stating simply that it wants those beds to be used for public patients. We have the ironic situation whereby public patients go to the Blackrock Clinic, the Beacon Clinic and the Mater Private Hospital under the National Treatment Purchase Fund while private patients go to public hospitals.

It would be good for Ireland if health insurers got involved in operational issues such as hospitals. I do not believe any of them have plans to do so. It may be the case in the future. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to accept Senator Prendergast's amendment. I reminded my officials that Senator Prendergast is female because they referred to "his amendment". I do not think they will be in any doubt in the future who Senator Prendergast is because she makes a lot of noise on health issues.