David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I will ask one last question and then come back in the second round on some of those issues. I accept Mr. Connaghan is new to the post. I must say he is very forthright and very upfront in answering questions, and I commend him on that. I gave him prior notice that I would raise this issue because it is very important and will have wider national implications. I spoke to one of those psychiatrists myself, and he said many of his colleagues across the State feel exactly the same and could make the same decision.

It will be a very serious situation.

My final question relates to section 38 agencies and organisations. The Comptroller and Auditor General has done some work on this issue and we have had to deal with a number which have come before the Committee of Public Accounts where there were serious issues and breaches in governance arrangements, how money was spent and so on. Mr. Connaghan said in his opening statement that €4.1 billion of the total expenditure is spent by these agencies, which in itself is incredible. We seem to have an increased dependency on section 38 organisations, which is possibly part of the problem. In some respects, we are over-reliant on them and we cannot pull back when there are problems because there is no one there to pick it up. The HSE itself cannot pick up the slack if corrective action is taken.

Mr. Connaghan said in his opening statement that the purpose of these reviews is to confirm that appropriate governance arrangements are in place. I would argue that the weaknesses in governance are not the problem. They are part of the problem. Enforcement is a problem. If these organisations do not see any sanction, there will be more and more of this. How many of them have come before the Committee of Public Accounts? We have not even heard from some. One is the hospice in Harold's Cross. There is a report on that which we have not got to yet, though we will. Is Mr. Connaghan satisfied that the sanctions are robust enough to make sure that we do not have recurring issues with governance failures and misspending of money by these section 38 organisations? The Comptroller and Auditor General has reported on this. Is he satisfied that we have seen improvements in compliance and governance generally across this system? Are we in a better place now than when we, as the Committee of Public Accounts, first examined this issue? I will leave it at that until I get the response.