Prior to 2000 my Department provided funding directly to health boards, public voluntary and joint board hospitals. This practice was largely overtaken by the arrangements put in place under the Health (Eastern Regional Health Authority) Act, 1999, whereby funding for all health agencies in the ERHA area is given to the authority and it is their responsibility to work with the three area health boards, the hospitals and other service providers in their region and to determine the level of funding for those agencies. St. John's Hospital, Limerick is the only voluntary hospital now receiving funding directly from my Department. The amounts allocated to health boards-authority for the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 are set out in the following table.