If you have a referral letter from your G.P. it should be free but if you have a referral letter from a consultant you will be charged. It happened to me in Loughlinstown hospital. Incidentally after I had paid the fee I asked for a copy of the x-ray and I was told that I could not have it as it had to be sent to the consultant. I protested but to no avail. It seemed that even after handing over the fee I was still not the owner of the x-ray. I am sure that under the data protection law I should have been entitled to be given the information directly rather than having to go to my consultant to get the information. In my case I didn't want to go back to the consultant and pay another €150 fee to be told what I already knew. In the end the supervisor finally agreed to fax the report to my G.P. but still refused to give me a copy directly. Whereupon my G.P. mislaid it!!!