Professor Desmond O'Neill:

There are dangers of creating apocalyptic scenarios. It is interesting that one of the challenges to me is often is how negatively we talk about our health service, but if we look at the OECD statistics, we actually rank relatively high in a wide range of areas. Sure there are problems of access but if you go to Canada or these places where we think it is all great, there are problems of access everywhere. There is a similar danger with many of the diagnoses or the issue of suffering of creating this dark picture that is at variance in many ways, in particular around disability.

As Dr. McDonagh knows, even if the quality of life of the person with disability is ten, it is rated lower by family members and it is rated even lower by healthcare staff and those around them. This means that getting to the truth is really important. It is a question of building up the services, trying to reassure people and getting a second opinion.

Senator Ruane made a comment about people being deprived of access. When people are dealing with people, there is always going to be imperfection. We had the Morris tribunal and we did not disband the Garda but learned from it. We had the Mahon tribunal and we did not disband the Oireachtas but we learned from it. I would reassure people that there are vivid discussions within medicine and healthcare ethics around resource allocation and how best to use scarce resources. I would always say to anybody here who has constituents who feel they are not getting treatment that everyone has a right to a second opinion. Asking for a second opinion often sparks increased vigilance, so I encourage people to do so. What was the second part of the question?