I ask for an update on the national review of specialist cardiac services. The Taoiseach will be well aware that this matter is very much to the fore of the minds of all Deputies from the south east. We were to have a review of cardiac services in the south east commencing last August. This has now been subsumed into the national review. There is growing and real concern in the south east on the timeframe for this and what immediate action can be taken to ensure there are adequate and appropriate cardiac services, including 24-7 access to primary percutaneous coronary intervention, PPCI, in the region.

I thank Deputy Howlin for the question. As he knows, I have asked Professor Philip Nolan, the President of NUI Maynooth, to chair the national review, work on which has commenced. The review team is available to brief Members, as appropriate, and will engage in public consultation so that people in the south east and all other parts of the country will have an opportunity to have their say. I am very much of the view that if we have to look at an issue in the south east or elsewhere, we must also look at the whole country and how we distribute cath labs and the provision of expert cardiac services nationally in a fair and equitable way, based on clinical evidence. That work is under way and I am very happy to meet Members from the south east on a cross-party basis in the week the Dáil resumes after Easter.