Dr. Gearóid Ó Cuinn:

To emphasise what I said at the end of my presentation, I ask the committee to recommend to the Minister for Education and Skills that RCSI currently falls short of Irish accreditation standards and that action is required in accordance with the Medical Practitioners Act.

In other words, the standards set in Ireland need to be applied in Bahrain. If one hands out Irish degrees, they need to live up to those standards, to which the Bahrainis have consented. It is not the RCSI telling Bahrain what to do because the Bahrainis have already consented to the standards.

The committee could invite the Medical Council to attend and explain how it will approach the key issues of human rights violations in the facilities. Will they be factored into their analysis as they should be in accordance with the World Federation for Medical Education standards that have been adopted by the Medical Council for Irish degrees? Standard 8.5 on page 11 of our report relates to basic medical education. It states: "The medical school must have a constructive interaction with the health and health related sectors of society and government." It also refers to appropriate supervision and a safe environment. On page 14 of our report we have listed all of the WFME standards that require free and open communication for feedback, complaints and reviews. With a restrictive environment where people cannot speak out, how can this process hope to live up to Irish standards? It would be appreciated if the committee could look at key questions of how the facilities live up to Irish standards.