Ms Marie O'Shea:

Of course. The Deputy raises a couple of points. I am certainly very conscious of the amount of work that went into formulating the legislation, passing it through the Dáil and commencing it, and I am not ignorant of that.

With regard to the terms of reference that I was given from the Department of Health, I disagree with the Deputy. My terms of reference were to assess the extent to which the objectives of the Act and the regulations have been achieved, having regard to three key information strands concerning the service user, the service provider and the general public, and then to explore and weigh the evidence for and against any proposed changes to this Act from the service provider with respect to a service user perspective and to give a report to Government. I do not think I have stepped outside my terms of reference in producing this report. It is what the Department of Health looked for and it has been delivered in a fair manner.

I understand what the Deputy is saying about the three-day waiting period and people perceiving that there is value to that. What is being proposed as a change in the legislation is not jeopardising people's ability to reflect or delaying their care whatsoever. The model of service will still stay as it is. There will be two visits to the GP that are free of charge and the GP can advise that people are fully entitled to return on another occasion, whether that is to give the issue more consideration or whether it is-----