Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept the Minister's point and to be fair to the Health Service Executive, the joint committee has a meetings with HSE officials, including quarterly meetings, at which the executive engages with committee members. The joint committee has a good relationship with the HSE, although it is not a one-way street. The picture at local level is different, however. If I were a councillor who was not on a health forum or an Oireachtas Member who was not on this committee, I wonder what would be my relationship, as a practising politician, with the HSE. The health forums were established as a political sop to keep politicians happy and maintain their involvement in the process. They do not have any function or power, which is wrong.