Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

With respect, I do not know why Professor MacLachlan is saying all this to me. If he reads the article in The Irish Timesabout why medics will not come back from Australia, he will find that what he is saying is not actually quite the case. I wish he would address the point that I raised. Will he issue a statement to the effect that the HSE has failed? That is the intellectual point at which we must begin. The services, the language being used, the documentation and the plans are a unicorn, which does not exist. In terms of people who are benefiting from services, Ireland is the worst country in Europe in which to have a disability in terms of suboptimal medical outcomes, poverty, social isolation, lack of timely interventions, unhappiness, unemployment and homelessness. It is a disgrace, and the Department has failed. It is not that it is failing; it has failed. It is a failure. It is that very energy that has brought me here and got me elected. I cannot go to sleep at night unless the witnesses hear this. It has to go on the record. There are thousands of families in this situation. The witnesses have failed. Will they please issue a statement to that effect so that we can be intellectually honest and move forward from that point?