Mr. Liam Doran:

My colleagues can enunciate it in the real world rather than through the words I am trying to articulate, but I would like to make three points to the committee. I do not want to get political about savings, but if we are really talking about the Irish public health system and all the changes facing it, notwithstanding the agreement announced before Christmas, our drug costs are still unsustainable vis-à-vis those elsewhere.

There may well be an overseas employment dimension to this. We need these companies and they are very good employers. However, the health service cannot be made to suffer because we are obliged to pay overinflated prices as a result of the quid pro quo. In the context of the debate on funding within our health system, I sincerely and respectfully suggest that this is not factored in to a sufficient degree to explain what we actually spend on direct staffing costs, patient care, etc.

While it is not directly related to this matter, we are of the view that there is another important point which must be made. We are always appealing for a nursing perspective to be brought to the areas of decision making, leadership and so on. The chief nursing officer post in the Department of Health has been vacant since 28 February last year. That is almost 11 months.