Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is the key. I was a member of the Committee on the Future of Healthcare and shall hold my hands up that I was not enthusiastic about the review. I will be straight. I believed it could be done. I am glad, however, that the review has happened because it means that we have a report to which we can point that backs up what some of us on the committee said. It also gives those who might have had doubts comfort that it could be done. What we need is a step change in political will.

The issue of monitoring of the consultants' contract comes up again and again. It is hard to blame the consultants if no one is monitoring their contracts. They are not going to do it themselves. On the slippage between public and private practice, Dr. de Buitléir said: "The HSE needs to ensure that this does not happen, so the agreed monitoring and reporting system to robustly monitor and enforce the existing consultant contract must be implemented." Is it being implemented to any great extent?