Mr. John Connaghan:

It is a good question. I will address it in two parts. I gave the committee, in the session immediately before this, an answer about what we are doing and the conduct of the investigation. I have to be absolutely neutral on this. We have 116,000 staff in the HSE. Many of them are doing a fantastic job every day of the week, particularly when it comes to times when the provision of healthcare to the nation is threatened such as during storms and snowfall. Many of them are doing a fantastic job. That is reflected in patient satisfaction surveys. The Deputy raises a more fundamental point about the process in place to assess, in particular, senior managers and staff in responsible positions. How do we assess whether The objectives they are meant to pursue in a year on a personal basis have been delivered? We do not have such a system operating in the Irish healthcare system. It is something we need to consider carefully as we go forward. It is one of the things on my radar.