asked the Minister for Health if he will state the number of public beds available in 1953 and at present for patients under the Health Acts in each of the following Cork hospitals, viz., North Infirmary, South Infirmary, Victoria and Mercy, the amounts paid to each of these institutions to meet revenue deficits arising on the years 1953 and 1958, respectively; and the total amounts given by way of grants for capital purposes out of the Hospitals' Trust fund or from the vote for his Department.

As the reply is in the form of a tabular statement, I propose, with your permission, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, to circulate it with the Official Report. The figures for number of public beds are as supplied by the hospitals themselves to the Hospitals Commission.

Following is the statement:—

(a) These figures represent the totals of interim instalments paid to date.

(b) Grants from the proceeds of the first six sweepstakes were not specifically designated as to capital or revenue expenditure. The grants shown in the final column above were in respect of capital works, and were made under the provisions of the Public Hospitals Act, 1933, which came into operation in October, 1933.