asked the Minister for Health if he will have a grant paid to Bedford Row Hospital, Limerick, in view of the impending closure of the hospital which will further aggravate the existing shortage of maternity beds in the Limerick region.

I am aware that Bedford Row Hospital has run into financial difficulty. I have agreed to receive a deputation from the Mid-Western Health Board to discuss this matter. When I have heard and considered what they have to say I shall communicate with the Deputy.

With regard to the reference in the question to a shortage of maternity beds in the Limerick region, I should mention that the Mid-Western Health Board recently provided 32 maternity beds in St. Camillus Hospital, Limerick, to help meet the demand for extra maternity beds in the area. The pressure on maternity beds in Limerick Regional Maternity Hospital is partly due to the under-utilisation of maternity beds in other units in the health board area.

When will the Minister receive the deputation?

I am sorry but I have not fixed the date yet. I assume it will be in the next week or two if that is suitable to the health board.

Arising out of the Minister's reply——

Do not politicise it now.

I want to put down puppyism.

A question, Deputy.

Is it not a fact, and an admitted fact, that the structure at Bedford Row is not suitable for a maternity hospital? There is no parking space. There is no fire escape. The equipment is rather inadequate. We members of the health board of which Deputy O'Malley knows nothing at all——

A question, Deputy.

——know what the demands are. If the Deputy wants some lessons, I am his man.

The Deputy is imparting information rather than seeking it.

He can be assured that the Minister will receive a deputation not only from the Limerick Corporation and the health board——

The Deputy should let the Minister give us that assurance.

——but also of the people concerned with the Bedford Row hospital.

Was the Deputy born there?

I was born where men should be born and there were no Black and Tans around and I did not have a British Army uniform on me either like some people.

Order.