John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have to depart. Shrinking the gap is a very good way of describing it. It certainly speaks to me. It speaks of a big gap between administration and the day-to-day role of the hospital doctors. Clearly, the chief executive of the HSE and the Minister have a role here. When we go into private session at some stage later in the week, certainly, I think the witnesses have exercised our minds greatly on that. I know talk is easy but I think they have. The Joint Committee on Health produces the occasional paper. All the information the witnesses presented is just so accessible. There is simply nothing complicated about any of it. This is not a complex issue. I will repeat that I have been taken aback by many of the issues and the extent and breadth of the situation.

I commend the witnesses on their very deep and credible research. They did not go once, but twice in some cases. Research and evidence always interests us. I think we will be returning to this. I feel a sense that they have highlighted something and the word that is coming into my head is "abandoned".

To answer the last point that was made about how the witnesses do not know who to go to; they come to us now. We cannot ignore them. It is at our peril that we ignore them. Their words are not lost on us. This is a cross-party committee. I can only speak for myself but the witnesses made a very deep impression. They certainly educated my with regard to the reality of the day-to-day lives of NCHDs in our hospitals. I thank them for that and apologise for my departure.