Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. The dispute, as the Taoiseach has pointed out, is effectively triangular. It involves three parties, each of whom is in dispute with the other. The Government is in dispute with the consultants and the Medical Defence Union. I accept that the Medical Defence Union should honour its commitments. The consultants are in dispute with the Medical Defence Union and the Government. The Government states it will provide cover and that nobody will be left off cover, and the consultants say that statement is not legally comprehensive enough. The Medical Defence Union is in dispute with the Government and the consultants. A Medical Defence Union representative yesterday stated this could be sorted out in an hour if the Minister were willing.

Nobody in this House wants this dispute. Everybody wants a solution before a crisis develops. Given that it is a three-sided dispute, no progress will be made if people keep sounding off from their respective corners, and highly qualified and eminent personalities, both here and abroad, are involved, will the Taoiseach, on the basis of legal advice and in an effort to deal with the matter, consider calling in an independent arbitrator to call all three sides together to create a situation where common sense will apply, where responsibility where it is vested will be honoured and where the end result is that the patients, who are the persons involved at the centre of all of this, will not suffer in any way because of disputes regarding legal issues of responsibility that should be owned up to by all sides?

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