asked the Minister for Health if he will state the cause of the delay in sanctioning the unanimous proposal of the county council and the recommendation of the county manager to appoint a temporary assistant surgeon to the county hospital at Croom, County Limerick.

The principle involved in the appointment of assistant surgeons is an important one. Up to the present, the assistance which has been made available to county surgeons has been by way of appointment of a more junior, but highly qualified, practitioner of the resident surgical officer grade, and only in a few localities has there been difficulty in recruiting suitable persons.

I have been considering the entire question of the means by which surgical services could best be made available in our county hospitals. I have had preliminary discussions with one of the interested bodies, and will resume these discussions on a broader basis at an early date. Pending the outcome of such discussions, I am not prepared to make an exception from the present arrangements in regard to a particular hospital.

For some years past it seems to be the policy of the Department to advertise through the county manager for a doctor called a "residentsurgical officer", who may have had no experience in operating. I should like to know what is the function of such an officer, in the absence of surgical experience?

It is a condition of the person's appointment that he must have experience in operating. The appointment is for the purpose of giving the county surgeon some help in his work. However, I can assure the Deputy that the whole thing is being reconsidered.

Does the Minister suggest that a person with no surgical training should be given the responsibility of performing serious operations?

No. I have suggested the opposite.