As I have outlined previously, no decision has been made yet on the draft Action Plan for Portlaoise Hospital. I committed to ensuring that local clinicians and the community would be consulted with before a decision is made. The appointment of an independent external facilitator for the consultation process is being progressed. The outcome of the consultation process will be a submission from my Department, setting out the key findings from the consultation process and recommended response to inform me in making a final decision on the draft Action Plan.