Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Two questions flow from that. Clearly, the understanding we have from media reports of the Government's intentions is that it is moving towards that model. Is there any particular advice that we need to give? Either set of speakers are welcome to answer my question. Was the Government in a poor negotiating position for the original deal considering it had essentially announced the deal before negotiations had started? Therefore, it needed to bring the deal over the line because of the additional pressures that were placed on it. In other words, did the private hospitals manage to get an incredibly good deal in return for what was actually delivered over the past number of months?