Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will come to that. Professor Whelan spoke of the public interest, but let us now consider public confidence. It is important that somebody such as the Professor state categorically at a meeting such as this that he understands absolutely the necessity to observe Government policy in respect of public service. He may not like it and those involved may not like it, but that is a separate issue. They should state that they recognise this policy and fall strictly within it.

The experience to date, and the reason they are here, is that they were not in compliance. St. Vincent's Healthcare Group is still not fully in compliance. Not only that; the group has been resisting giving information. It seems to me it was forced by the public discourse into a position in which it had to come clean with the information. The group is now here and is in discussion and dialogue. That is excellent. It has some proposals, and we will have a word on those in a few moments. None the less, it is worrying that the group still holds a position that there was no issue, or that it had the law on its side.