Mr. Mark Darmody:

I do not mean to be critical in any way of the political system, but the Minister for Health was asked in a recent parliamentary question whether he would set up an external complaints body for the HSE. That question was sent to the HSE for direct response. Back in the day of the Garda scandals of 15 years ago, that would have been like asking the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to set up an independent Garda mechanism only for the Minister to send it to the Garda for response. It is ludicrous. This is not a personal criticism.