John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Invite him in. I will gladly hold the door open for him. I have no problem. I will buy him a cup of coffee and say it to his face. I have not mentioned him. It is wrong. The backbone of a democracy is a critical press and it should not happen that we cannot criticise public bodies because the public body has a newly-defined reputational right. Can one imagine if somebody was prevented from criticising the FDA, the National Institutes of Health or the Pentagon in Washington because somebody there stated he or she would threaten to sue if the reputation of the organisation was questioned? We would have no investigative journalism whatsoever if that happened. For these reasons I must state I find myself very much in sympathy with the tenor of Mr. Lawless's comments. I have not read the submission in detail but Mr. Lawless has an absolute right to criticise any organisation he wishes without fear of legal retribution if it is a public organisation. I hope he has not criticised individuals in an identifiable way.

I will return to the core of the questions I asked. I understand I am catching the witnesses on the hop and I understand they may not have the figures at the tips of their fingers. By and large there is a rule which applies across the Irish health service. In general we have approximately 60% of the number of consultants the UK has, and the UK has approximately one fifth of the number in continental Europe and one tenth of the number in North America. This is generally how it works.