I propose to take Questions Nos. 30 and 32 together.
My Department has recently undertaken an assessment of the medium-term requirements for additional cardiac surgery. St. James's Hospital and the Mater Hospital submitted proposals for additional cardiac surgery operations.
I have decided that the annual capacity at the National Cardiac Surgery Unit at the Mater Hospital should be increased from 750 to 1,000 and I have provided £1 million in 1993 which will be met from the waiting list fund.
I am also providing for a doubling of capacity for cardiac surgery at Cork Regional Hospital from 200 to 400 patients each year. The combined increased capacity in both Dublin and Cork will mean a new national annual throughput of 1,400 cases in the public sector which represents an increase of 47 per cent on current capacity.
I am satisfied that this increased level of service will be adequate to meet the medium-term requirements for cardiac surgery in Ireland.