Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a slightly different perspective from Deputy Wallace. Part of the problem is that many people in Ireland do not recognise that people make mistakes. Much of the time, it is not through negligence but is just an occupational hazard. Whether one is a doctor or a builder, people can make mistakes. Part of the reason they do not own up to them, apologise and say they made a mistake, which is the right thing to do, is because they feel they are immediately going to be condemned by the world at large. They will end up on the front page of The Irish Timesand be subjected to vilification.

We need to translate that into the Bill. Doctors and lawyers should recognise - everyone should - that people make mistakes and should just own up to them. It is an occupational hazard. One should not be condemned for making a mistake. Part of the problem is that if a doctor or a garda makes a mistake, it can have catastrophic consequences. Politicians make mistakes that can have catastrophic consequences as well. However, we need to recognise more that humans make mistakes. Let us own up to them and not condemn people when they make them.