Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise a couple of points myself.

I note suggestions the Minister makes to address the provision of private care in public hospitals in the short term. Would he accept that the present system constitutes perverse incentives for hospitals where there are targets set for private income and that arrangement very much militates against public patients?

The Minister talks about a statutory basis for local structures within the health service in the proposal he has. I am keen to know what he has in mind for that. What kind of prop or structure would he be talking about?

On the issue of giving greater strength to a clinical voice in management, the Minister talked about the frustration for clinicians. I think it is fair to say that the frustration works both ways. One of the strong recommendations made to us as a committee, by Professor Tom Keane, was that hospital consultants would be made accountable at hospital level.

I wonder if the Minister has a view on that. He actually suggested that it should be underpinned by legislation as is the case in a number of other jurisdictions. I would welcome the Minister's views on those points.