Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is useful to know. We then come to another question of interpretation. In his opening statement, Mr. Menton indicated that the values of St. Vincent's Healthcare Group could not be interpreted as relating to a different ethos but values are, of course, interpreted. That is the nature and it is the job. I note that Professor Deirdre Madden and others specifically stated that boards do have an impact on ethos. One of the ways they do so is through how values are interpreted. One of the values listed by the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group is human dignity. In fact, it is the number one value listed. There are multiple interpretations of that in the world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights talks about human beings who are born, so from the point of birth, being free and equal in dignity. The Dignitas Humanae Institute in Rome, which has a universal declaration on human dignity, states that human dignity applies to every single human being without exception from conception until natural death, and that the most effective means of safeguarding this recognition is through the active participation of the Christian faith in the public square. Those are two interpretations of human dignity. I could give multiple examples but I will only give two due to time limitations. What is the interpretation of human dignity by the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group? Another of its values relates to the voice of the voiceless. Is that speaking on behalf of women or what is the interpretation of that?