Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

A number of my questions have already been asked. From a legislative point of view, we will be debating a lot of terminology and definitions. That will come out in the wash. Some work probably needs to be done in this regard.

I have a general concern. The legislation will have to be drafted in such a way that makes it flexible enough to be adaptable from a ministerial point of view. It will change all the time. The witnesses should bear that in mind. It is an important point because definitions and terminology will change. Court cases will arise that will have consequences. We need to bear this in mind in the drafting of the legislation to allow for direct ministerial powers to make changes quickly.

The real issue, the real nut, concerns how the legislation will be implemented, reporting back and the volume of resources. How will we ensure that the organisations across the health service will be resourced to deal with this? Is there a plan in place? Dr. Holohan might answer that first. I will come back to my other questions.