Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Keegan and Dr. de Buitléir for their time and for all of the very extensive work they and their teams have done in producing the ESRI report and what is called it the de Buitléir report. Who needs a formal title on it? We all know it as the de Buitléir report.

Can I ask Dr. de Buitléir about one of the things that is not recommended, maybe because it is so glaringly obvious it should not have needed recommendation? If we are going to move to a world where we do not have private practice in public hospitals, which is something I and Fianna Fáil support, we should not build new private facilities into new public hospitals. Maybe it is just assumed that we would not do that if we are all signed up to removing private care. However, as it happens, the Government is building dedicated private facilities into the new national children's hospital, and it is building very substantial private facilities - physically separate facilities - into the new National Maternity Hospital, which are both public hospitals and both built with public money.

There is a line in the report which says the Government should send a clear signal that at some future date private activity will no longer be permitted in public hospitals. It is not one of the key recommendations, but maybe because it is the kind of thing that one should not really have to recommend. Does Dr. de Buitléir believe there is any issue with dedicated, private facilities being built into the new children's hospital and the new maternity hospital in a world where we are trying to take private care out of public hospitals?