Mr. Brian Conlan:

When I was appointed chief executive officer of the Mater hospital, part of my duties was to be a director of the CRC, Central Remedial Clinic. The main purpose of that responsibility was to be a custodian and guardian of the Mater hospital’s interests and the CRC’s to do with its pensions. As a result of that, given that I was a director of 12 other companies and had a huge portfolio in the Mater hospital with not only running the place, but building the new extension, the CRC board was one on which I could be more passive than active. My attendance rate was testament to that. Its meetings were at 5 p.m. on a Monday afternoon which were extremely difficult for me to attend because operationally, in an acute general hospital, it is the busiest time of the week.