I had hoped that the days when vitally important infrastructure was left lying idle were in the past, but apparently not. Is that not shocking? Why is that happening? Who is accountable for it? We have major infrastructural projects to be built in this country. Will the Taoiseach agree to the suggestion by my colleague, Deputy Burton, that the additional costings should be referred to the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight or the Committee of Public Accounts, whichever the Taoiseach deems more appropriate, in order that we might obtain answers to our questions before we embark on building more major infrastructure that we need? Separately, will the Taoiseach agree to an independent probe into how our waiting lists are compiled and reported?

The Government will have to receive and assess the formal business case being put by the group in respect of the hospital. The point the Deputy made is not irrelevant by any means. I had a meeting with a senior medical person yesterday who told me that on many occasions there are cancellations of complex operations in hospitals. This means that a consultant and his or her team are ready to carry out an operation, however complex it might be, and they discover that it has suddenly been cancelled because a bed is not available. Who is responsible for this? The waste of public money, not to mind the stress on the patient involved, speaks for itself.

We need the answer to that question.

The Taoiseach is responsible.

Deputy Howlin is right in what he said. It is a question of having a policy position set out by Government and money - serious money - provided through that in order to deal with very specialist operations.

Somebody has to be accountable.

To find that an operation can be suddenly cancelled means that seriously competent medical-----

There are too many people coming into casualty the night before. It is very simple.

-----professionals become completely frustrated when they find they have to wait for half a day due to a cancellation as a result of a bed not being made available in the first instance. There are many people who have serious complaints and who are in hospital but who are not receiving any further treatment. These individuals could possibly be moved to different locations - thereby freeing up beds - and they would still, despite their difficulties, have the same quality of life. When we consider Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda or the hospital in Galway and see the major operations taking place in terms of construction, clearly, we need a ten-year strategy. However, we must also get agreement on what has to be done during those ten years and that will not be an easy task.