Mr. Robert Watt:

I am unsure as to what particular ethical issues the Senator is referring. There might be many; I am not entirely sure. I do not think we have correspondence with the representative bodies. I am aware there has been some commentary but we have not written or spoken to them about it. I believe the bodies made an initial reaction based on media reports, which I do not think reflected the reality of the situation. I presume the Senator is referring in the main to the Medical Council of Ireland. When the Medical Council has had a chance to read and review the material and hear what we have said then we can have a conversation with it. Obviously, we welcome its views if it has ethical concerns based on what we have heard.

Of course, the main ethical concern was the allegation that we had gone to the clinicians without the consent of parents and had directly sought a clinician's report. There were various allegations that we had gone to private doctors and there were various other issues. That is not true. That was the main ethical concern. I presume the Medical Council will be reassured when we set out the findings for it. Obviously, that is for it to judge.