Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In fairness this was flagged to us as something the Government would address on Committee Stage, unlike some of the other issues, which I will deal with shortly. This issue definitely was flagged and we fully support the Minister in his efforts on this. I echo the point made by the Minister that our support on it is dependent on some sanctions being included on Report Stage. There are no sanctions at all on medical institutions or hospitals that refuse to hand over records. On the understanding that these sanctions will be included, I would be happy to accept the amendment. While this was flagged, a number of the other issues raised by the Minister were not flagged at all in the conversations we had in preparation for this Bill. I am pretty sure some of the issues were not even flagged on Second Stage. Some issues were flagged on Second Stage, dropped in the pre-discussions about Committee Stage and are now being re-entered. Perhaps the committee could deal with this after today's session. I just wanted to put it on the record. This issue, however, was flagged and we fully support it.