Trevor Sargent
Ceist:196 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will tabulate the expenditure in relation to the respite care fund since the creation of the fund in 1993; if he will outline the circumstances and reasoning, if any, behind the transfer of responsibility for the fund from the then Department of Social Welfare to his Department; when this transfer took place; the way in which the fund has developed under his Department's administration; the plans, if any, which are in train within his Department to develop the application in the community of the respite care fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22597/97]