asked the Minister for Health if he will sanction the appointment of an obstetrician-gynaecologist for Louth County Hospital.

Approval to a post of consultant obstetrician-gynaecologist at Louth County Hospital is primarily a matter for Comhairle na nOspidéal which have the statutory function of regulating the number and type of consultant medical appointments in hospitals. However, there are certain issues in regard to the provision of maternity services at the County Hospital Dundalk which require to be clarified before the question of the appointment of a consultant obstetrician can be proceeded with. Discussions in this regard involving officers of my Department, representatives of the health board and of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, are on-going at this time.

Is the Minister not aware of the apprehension of the people and the GPs in the catchment area of the maternity unit of Louth County Hospital at Dundalk about its future? The GPs and women who wish to avail of the facilities there do not know exactly what the future will be. Does the Minister not agree that it is time that Comhairle na nOspidéal and himself decided that the obstetrician-gynaecologist should be appointed for the maternity unit in Dundalk?

I am very hopeful that the arrangements which I have in mind and which are currently under discussion with the health board and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital will be accepted. The people of Dundalk will then have available to them in Dundalk for the first time ever the services of a consultant obstetrician-gynaecologist. On that basis at this stage I am reasonably confident that we can deliver a very major improvement in the Dundalk situation.

Will the Minister assure the House and the people of the constituency of Louth that the maternity facilities in Louth County Hospital will continue to be an integral part of the long term plans of the general maternity facilities in the North-Eastern Health Board region?

I have never proposed that maternity facilities in the hospital should cease. I have been concerned about whether the hospital should have resident within the hospital and servicing it on an exclusive basis only a consultant obstetrician-gynaecologist which the hospital never had and which the health board proposed the hospital should have. The arrangements I have in mind — I do not wish to elaborate on them now because of the discussions that are taking place — will give that cover and a major assurance to the people of Dundalk and the surrounding townlands. I am reasonably confident of that. I should like to add that I am grateful to the hospital authorities, particularly in Drogheda, and the health board for the outstanding co-operation they have given me in my efforts to resolve this issue.

Is the Minister aware of the fear, worry and apprehension of the staff of Louth County Hospital about the future of that institution because of the cloud that is hanging over the maternity unit there?

That seems to be an argument.

The view held is that if the maternity unit is closed the general facilities in the hospital will follow suit soon afterwards.