David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make a few comments before the session starts which are not directed in any way at the Minister or any of our witnesses. It is unfortunate that we have the Minister for Health, the acting CMO and a number of key figures from NPHET in the same session. This is problematic for a number of reasons. We now have to choose to whom we put our questions; and some members only have five minutes which makes it impossible to put questions to the Minister, the acting CMO and the members of NPHET. We are not doing the committee any service and it is bad form. There is a conflict here in even doing this because the Minister gets advice from NPHET and the acting CMO and I do not want members to be in a situation where they put a question to the acting CMO or NPHET and it is then spun, as could happen, that we were somehow trying to play one against the other.

There are clear lines of demarcation; NPHET gives advice, the Government has to act on that advice and senior civil servants have to implement the decisions of Government. To have NPHET, the acting CMO and the Minister for Health in the same two hour session, notwithstanding it is impossible to ask questions, muddies the water between the role of NPHET and the role of Government. It is bad form and a bad end to this committee; I do not say that lightly because we have done a very good job when no other committees were in place. The clerk and the secretariat have also done a first class job, as have you, Chair. I am sincere in saying that because a good job was done over a long period but having all of these people here today in one session creates practical problems and other issues around conflicts of interest. I want to make that point strongly.