Mr. Tony O'Brien:

I wish to offer a slightly alternative perspective, having been chief executive of the national cancer screening service when it was a stand-alone agency. This does not fundamentally disagree with what Dr. McKenna is saying because he is talking about the present day context. I spent a number of years doing my best to try to prevent the national cancer screening service board ending up as part of the HSE - it is ironic that I am now the director general of the HSE, although not for too much longer - and I believe that had governance with a non-executive board remained closer to the screening programmes red flags would have been raised more quickly, more locally and more effectively in that structure.