I share my colleagues' concerns about the leaked recommendations of the trauma steering group published in The Sunday Business Post. As of three hours ago, 419 patients were waiting on trolleys in emergency departments and this is the middle of the summer. The hit list of emergency services covers all parts of the country. As we know, overcrowding in emergency departments is a problem. All the data suggest it leads to increased mortality among patients who attend them. We used to bemoan the fact that some counties did not have an emergency department. If some of these cuts come into practice, we might have whole regions without one. While I understand why we need to centralise services - I welcome the BreastCheck and the prostate referral system - we cannot over-pressurise emergency departments that are already overcrowded. That would be my concern. Also, these types of leaked recommendations are not helpful to staff working in the hospitals and GPs who refer frequently to their local services. For example, Cavan trauma cases could be transferred to Beaumont Hospital or Connolly Memorial Hospital. Both hospitals have major capacity issues. Kilkenny, Mullingar and Wexford trauma cases could transfer to the Mater Hospital or St. Vincent's University Hospital. All of these hospitals are bursting at the seams. This is coupled with an ambulance service that is under-resourced. There is an ageing fleet. Often the roads from an accident or an emergency to the trauma centre have poor infrastructure. I ask the Minister to come to the House to discuss some of these issues.

There should be clarification from the Minister for Health on this issue at a very early date. Contrary to what has been said, I understand there is not yet a proposal before him and that he has not received the report. Therefore, until such time as he receive it, I do not think he can give us the answers we are looking for, but I believe that at the earliest possible date he should provide clarification on this matter.

There has been a lot of criticism of the health service. Some of it is justified, but we also need to understand the volume of patients going through the system. I have repeated this figure previously. There are 63,000 patients a week going through outpatients departments between all hospitals. Another 23,000 a week go through emergency departments. An impression is being given that nothing at all is being done. In addition, life expectancy has increased by more than two years in the past ten years.

There have been improvements in the health service. For example, there has been a huge increase in the number of day-case procedures being carried out. There have been many good developments. However, on this issue, the Minister needs to clarify the position at the earliest possible date because people are unduly concerned. A proposal was put forward to the effect that the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland consider this matter. The relevant report has obviously been leaked and it is now time to clarify matters. I ask the Leader to request that the Minister for Health come before us at the earliest possible opportunity in order that he might provide that clarification. Obviously, he must receive the report first. The sooner he does so, the sooner we can obtain clarification.