Mr. William Prasifka:

I will try to be brief. The Medical Council has a direct statutory responsibility to develop guidelines on ethics and professional practice. This is in section 7 of the Act. It is a very wide remit. It is not necessarily limited to saying everything that is legal is ethical and is consistent with professionalism. The example I gave was that it may be legal for a doctor to prescribe a certain drug in a certain dose but it may not be professional or ethical. The fact of the matter is that the three-day waiting period is not a matter on which the Medical Council has any record. It is not part of the current guide to professional conduct and ethics. For us, it is really a matter for the Legislature. Our primary goal, which is very important, is to come up with the ethical guide in light of the revised legislation, but we would tell the Oireachtas that the matter of the three-day waiting period at this point is firmly within its remit and is a matter of law.