Professor Gerry Hanna:

Clinical leadership or leadership in the system was mentioned. One thing we have to address in the Republic, compared with Northern Ireland, is the idea of protected academic research and management time for clinicians. That is very absent in most job plans here for consultants and other clinical staff in the Republic, while it has been better developed in Northern Ireland, which has borne fruit. Having that degree of clinical leadership is important, if you are developing specialist types of services.