Mr. Terry Casey:

I shall respond regarding our statement. I accept that the failing was in terms of the communications process that related to the audit. If there is confusion, then I accept that point.

Regarding the decision to award the entire tender to Quest Diagnostics, I assert that I do not genuinely believe that a Government would allow a service of that nature to be outsourced to a different jurisdiction and that it would not have had any input whatsoever. Ten years ago when we strongly advocated against such a move, we were not aware that the entire service would be shut down. That was what we were advised would happen. Subsequently, the Coombe Hospital stated that there was a requirement for the training of non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHDs, and, therefore, the retention of quality, which is welcome. It is a credit to the staff at the Coombe Hospital for insisting that the service would remain. It is absolutely our view that it was a political decision. I can back that up because around the same time we were presented with a report that effectively was a proposal to tender for much more of the pathology testing, particularly relating to co-laboratory work and primary care. At the time we worked hard to show that that would be the wrong thing to do. We even presented our own report that showed from a cost perspective insourcing would be the right thing to do and we, ultimately, have won that argument. We remain stridently of the view that it was a Government decision.