Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is to save Mr. Quinn from having to repeat himself. I may come back in afterwards. We have discussed here before exactly what Deputy Kelleher raises. The buck stops with the Irish Medical Council or the pharmaceutical regulator. The professional has to answer to his or her body. We were discussing open disclosure here last week or the week before and the same issue arose about administrative people not having the same stick to be beaten with as a professional. I do not see anything in what has been said that addresses that issue. I get the idea of the commissioning and all of that and the service, which are separate things, but how many layers of regulation are needed? If something goes wrong, does HIQA come in and identify that X, Y or Z regulation was breached and then the doctor has to go before the Irish Medical Council? Why are so many people involved in professional regulation and does HIQA consider that we are going to move from professional regulation, which has to do with continuing professional development and all of that, to a position where adverse events and issues to do with following guidelines are dealt with in some other way?