asked the Minister for Health the reason the North-Western Health Board are the only health board in the country which do not have medical representation on Comhairle na nOspidéal.

When I was considering the selection of members for appointment to Comhairle na nOspidéal I had to take a number of factors into account. I decided that, in principle, a number of places should be filled by new appointees as I believe that a policy of rotating membership is a correct one. I also tried to achieve an even spread of members from around the country and to have a representative balance between the various specialities. Furthermore, I received quite a number of nominations for membership from many bodies and it simply was not possible to appoint all of them.

The North-Western Health Board are represented on the comhairle by the board's chief executive officer and I am confident that the interests of hospital services in the area will be adequately served by him.

We are all well aware that Mr. Donal O'Shea is the appointee of the Minister. I feel there should be some medical representation from Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal on Comhairle na nOspidéal.

A question, Deputy, please.

Is the Minister aware of the present deterioration in services at Sligo General Hospital, that the equipment there is becoming obsolete and, because we have been so long awaiting the extension to be built to that hospital, it is now time that the old hospital was re-equipped?

I understand there is a question about that later on.

I did receive a number of nominations from the North-Western Health Board, five in all. Within the statutory requirements of Comhairle na nOspidéal, I had to try to balance the number of specialities throughout the country. I had to ensure also that a number of chief executive officers were represented on Comhairle na nOspidéal and, in the North-Western Health Board, I was pleased to ask the chief executive officer to continue on as an outgoing member. That is the reason. The hospital services in Sligo and Letterkenny are, generally speaking, extremely good.

As there are 27 members on the board of Comhairle na nOspidéal, would the Minister not agree that it is not unreasonable — considering that there are eight health boards only who provide that bulk of the health services — that each health board should have two representatives on the board of Comhairle na nOspidéal? In that connection the Minister referred earlier to various submissions having been made to him. What attention do he and his Department pay to submissions made to them in relation to the membership of Comhairle na nOspidéal because, in relation to the South-Eastern Health Board, no attention was given to such submissions?

I ask Members to examine the current list of 27 members recently appointed for a period of three years and I think they will accept that all of the specialities are represented on the board of the new comhairle.

There is an area outside the pale called the rest of the country.

I do not accept that at all — a large number of members of comhairle have been appointed, including members from the Deputy's own health board area.

One.

There was an ophthalmologist appointed——

This question concerns the North-Western Health Board area and should be confined to that.

I must confess I have met no criticism about that list of appointments.

Arising from what the Minister has said in relation to the question put down by Deputy M. Brennan about comhairle representation for the North-Western Health Board, in the Minister's reply he talked about the specialities and the qualifications of the personnel he has chosen, notwithstanding the fact that there is no medical representative in the north-west. Is the Minister now saying that there were not suitably qualified personnel in the two acute general hospitals in the North-Western Health Board area — Sligo and Letterkenny — for membership of Comhairle na nOspidéal? Or is it another example of his and his Department's attitude in downgrading the services, in not providing the extensions that are needed, particularly in Sligo General Hospital?

The purpose of Comhairle na nOspidéal is to deal with the appointment of consultants at national level. It is the national body and I have not met in any of the medical faculties or any of the other faculties relating to community care the slightest criticism regarding the 27 appointments. Politicians who come into this House with parochial preoccupations are, with respect, going down a cul-de-sac. The published list comprises specialists from all over the country. It is not confined to Sligo, Letterkenny or any other part of the north-west. I would submit that the CEO of that area, who is responsible for the administration of two major public hospitals, is more than capable of representing that area. He has done so with distinction in the past and I have no doubt that he will continue to do so in the future.

We have no doubt about that either.

The Minister said we were talking about parochial questions here.

I have been reasonable on this question. We are now moving on to Question No. 6.

The Minister ignores the north-west, whether it is parochial or not. That is the fact.