I understand from senior people in medicine that there is a need to increase the number of interns and training scheme doctors nationally. Apparently, the vast majority of level 3 hospitals have interns but Cavan-Monaghan hospital, despite promises, has not been facilitated with trainees. Without trainees, this hospital will have difficulty in recruiting and retaining Irish-trained doctors on qualification as they will not have the experience of working there previously. Over the years, management and staff at all levels have worked hard in the hospital to expand considerably the range of health services provided locally. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, on his visits to Cavan, saw at first-hand the successful roll out of some of those services. I understand that Cavan-Monaghan hospital is regarded as having excellent training opportunities across a range of specialties. The hospital has the personnel and facilities to provide appropriate training for such doctors. The needs of smaller-scale hospitals must be addressed and would help the better delivery of health services throughout the country.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I acknowledge that he has raised this with me previously to seek additional interns or, indeed, an intern allocation for this year. I have looked into the matter. The good news, as the Deputy will be aware, is that Cavan-Monaghan hospital has had a very significant increase in budget, in staffing and in physical capacity and infrastructure. The Deputy should rest assured that the Government will continue to invest in Cavan and Monaghan hospitals. I have asked the Department to revert to me in terms of the allocation of medical interns for this year. We now have a record number of hospital consultants in the country and a record number of non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHDs, as well. We are looking into this to see what can be done for Cavan-Monaghan in terms of medical internship deployment for the next round.