We are out of time now and there are five speakers left, so I ask for their co-operation with brevity.

I will follow up on a comment the Taoiseach made earlier about the supposed good news and the clinical lead of the paediatric diabetes service in Mullingar. With the greatest respect, the information the Taoiseach put on the record of the Dáil is not entirely correct, because that letter was not seen by the clinical lead, Professor O'Grady, until after it had been issued to parents. The proposed solution that has been put forward today is to move the paediatric diabetes nurse from Portlaoise to Mullingar for a period of three weeks. With the greatest of respect to this lady - I have no doubt she is very good at what she does - I am told that she has no training in pumps or pump management. If the 145 children who attend the Mullingar service have an issue with their pump, there is no support available to them. The parents, especially of children as young as two years of age who have been recently diagnosed, are beside themselves with worry at this point. They cannot go to their GPs.

Thank you, Deputy.

Their GPs will tell them they do not have the expertise-----

We are over time.

-----to be able to read the rates and that they need the service to be properly resourced.

I call the Taoiseach to respond.

Again, this is not the first time this matter has been raised.

Deputy, we are way over time. I ask the Taoiseach to respond.

This service was in exactly the same position three years ago, almost to the day.

I asked for co-operation. We are way over time. Please.

I appreciate Deputy Clarke raising the issue and the seriousness of it. The information I put on the record of the House is the information I was given, that an interim plan was discussed with the clinical lead at a meeting last week - that is what my note tells me and I can only relay that to the House - and that hospital management provided a commitment to finalise a solution to address the longer term staffing needs of the service to ensure stability and avoid any impact on paediatric diabetes patients and their families. On foot of what the Deputy has said, I will ensure her comments are conveyed to the Minister for Health and that he responds to her directly.