asked the Minister for Health the total number of (a) hospitals and (b) hospital beds in the country at the latest available date.

There are 201 hospitals with a total of 37,000 beds in the country.

Could the Minister say how this rates with other countries per capita?

It is a separate question.

I can only go back to 1965-66 when there were 7.2 beds per thousand population here when the figure in the United Kingdom was 4.3 beds. We had the third highest number of beds per thousand of the population in Europe but of course that requires further definition because some countries may have more geriatric cases and acute care hospitals than others.

The Minister has said that his figures are available only from 1965. Does he not think that there is a need for bringing all these figures up-to-date, as is evident from an article I read recently about the Department being unable to give up-to-date figures on anything?

This will all be gone into by the regional hospital boards and in relation to medico-social research board in-patient survey.