Professor Kieran Murphy:

As Senator Burke mentioned paragraph 6.4 of the export group report, the Medical Council has set its position which is as follows:

1. Legislation and/or regulations should set out criteria for the number and role of doctors to be involved. The Council will actively engage with the Department of Health in the development of regulations in collaboration with other stakeholders.
2. The Legislation and/or regulations should include a requirement that doctors involved have sufficient knowledge and skills to facilitate appropriate clinical decision-making.

The Medical Council's primary concern, as I mentioned earlier, relates to protecting the public. The Medical Council believes it can best do that by ensuring the education and training of a doctor is of an appropriate standard that is benchmarked favourably internationally. How we do this, as Ms Spillane said earlier, is by ensuring that entry onto the specialist division of our register is that hallmark of quality. For the council, that is the standard by which it can be reassured that members of the public are protected.