Will the Taoiseach confirm the authenticity of the leaked Cabinet memos which reveal the shambles that is now the Government's so-called health policy? Has he initiated a full investigation of the leaks? Is it the case that they confirm dissent and disgruntlement within the Department of Health and Children at the continued lack of financial support and embargo on recruitment forced on it by the Department of Finance?

Will the Taoiseach confirm that the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, has written to his Cabinet colleagues stating that some €400 million in capital funding has been spent on projects throughout the State and that these facilities are lying idle and are not fulfilling the task for which they were built? Will the Taoiseach confirm that if these units are not opened in 2004, the capital investment therein will not be properly utilised and they will not fulfil their real potential? What amount has been spent on unused capital investment projects and empty facilities? Can the Taoiseach confirm that the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, is seeking an additional €50 million to provide properly for the facilities required by these capital investments, which is €2 million less than what the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, and the Cabinet have wasted in public moneys on the e-voting project?

Will the Taoiseach indicate what will be the Cabinet response to the Minister for Health and Children's request? Will he accept that request, as I urge him to do, in order that these important capital projects are properly resourced and that people in the respective communities receive the services intended?

The Minister for Health and Children will, under the National Development Plan 2000-2006, oversee the spending of some €2 billion for the provision of infrastructure in the hospital system. It is an ongoing matter for the Minister not only to provide for buildings and equipment but also to cater for running costs in the years ahead. This issue is ongoing in several hospitals. The Minister must, from the €2 billion being spent on health infrastructure, continue to provide resources for the non-pay side in terms of full staffing and non-pay costs for the year ahead.

That is what this memo was about. The question of the memo being leaked is a matter for the Departments of Health and Children and Finance, and that matter is under discussion. It is to the advantage of the country's infrastructure that so many major and minor infrastructural projects are under way. Many of these are being commissioned this year and many others will be commissioned next year. The related equipment, staffing and non-pay costs must be built into them. This is an ongoing issue between the Departments of Health and Children and Finance.

What are the Taoiseach's intentions regarding the request of the Minister for Health and Children? It is the collective view of the House that the Taoiseach and the Department of Finance should respond positively to the Minister's request. Can the Taoiseach not accept the public cynicism at the continual utterances of Government representatives in the weeks remaining before the local and European elections on 11 June, given all we have heard regarding this and other matters?

Would the Taoiseach not also accept that this matter exposes the absence of coherence in the Government's health policy? We have a significant investment of €400 million in capital projects but we are not prepared to resource them in order to see them open and giving the services for which they were intended.

In response to a question I asked him last week, the Taoiseach indicated that he welcomed the fact that fewer people had medical cards as an indication of a decrease in unemployment. At the same time he went on to say he would like to see more people having medical cards. Can the Taoiseach clarify whether or not he accepts the existence of real suffering, particularly among families with children, and the urgent need to increase the threshold for qualification for medical cards?

Deputy Ó Caoláin asks if resources are likely to be allocated. In the last seven years the health budget has increased by 20% per year. There has been an increase of 188% in the health budget since 1997. The health service is extraordinarily well resourced. The Government now spends €10.5 billion on health. This has nothing to do with what will happen in the next six weeks. The Minister for Health and Children is planning the opening, equipping and staffing of units in 2005 and an ongoing programme of major infrastructural development involving approximately 20 large projects throughout the country. This is an ongoing task.

It is the Government's ongoing intention to increase the number of medical cards during the life of this Government when resources permit.