Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our witnesses. Prior to this, did the HSE expert group that studied the need for this directive express a particular preference or antipathy, for want of a better description, towards the use of other practitioners or the access of other practitioners to X-rays and referrals? Where and from whom did the original request in relation to this directive come? Did it come from Europe? Did it come from a particular country in Europe? Did it come from this country? It seems to me from my experience with the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs that most directives usually originate back home and do the circuit before they come back. This allows us to blame Europe for introducing something for which we had devolved responsibility to Europe, or which we had approved. I do not want to put any of the members of the committee or of the HSE expert group on the spot, but I would like to know whether any of them has ever had to seek the assistance of a chiropractor.

The witnesses have had complaints lodged with them, with the Health Information and Quality Authority or others regarding use of X-ray equipment and the extent of the use of X-rays by chiropractors. Have they ever had complaints made against general practitioners in the HSE for either the excessive use of X-ray services or the reading of X-rays? Have they received complaints regarding the ability of existing practitioners covered by the directive and by all the regulations? I recall at least one case not very long ago with respect to which there were very considerable reservations about the reading of X-rays. It must be fresh in all our minds. I would like a response to that question.

Have the witnesses received complaints from rival practitioners? I ask that in the broadest sense. Our competitors, even in politics, always keep us on our toes. Sometimes complaints are made by competitors as to the extent to which one does or does not do his or her job, as the case may be. What is the extent, if any, to which complaints have been made by competing practitioners?

My final point relates to HIQA. Some of us have had concerns about the extent to which HIQA, in the past, has applied rules and regulations in certain areas, which I do not propose to go into now. Dr. Holohan will be familiar with them, particularly regarding accommodation for elderly people in nursing homes, etc. I would not necessarily always agree with the conclusions HIQA reached. I am not a practitioner but neither are those in HIQA. That is the extent of my questions although I may come back in at a later stage.