In advance of the changeover in a few weeks' time, I want to raise the issue of the lack of and deficit in health services and infrastructure in the mid-west region. I believe the Tánaiste is aware of this. There is a huge demographic challenge as we look to five, ten and 15 years ahead. We have challenges at the moment but as we go forward to the end of the decade and into the next one, we will need new hospitals and new services in University Hospital Limerick, UHL, and also in other parts of the region. I want to impress upon the Tánaiste the importance of this to the region because the hospital has been let down in the last number of years.

I thank the Deputy for raising the need to expand and develop our public health services in the mid-west, not only in UHL but also in the other hospitals such as Nenagh, Ennis and Croom hospitals. I am very much seized of the matter, having visited all of those hospitals on more than one occasion. I assure the Deputy it is very much on the Government's agenda for the next two years.