Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The Government committee met this morning and I will bring a memorandum to the Government at our first meeting after the Easter recess, on 6 April. We examined the possibility of deleting references to the other issues in the legal opinion, but as the matters are all intertwined that would have been impossible. It would not have made sense. A number of cases are pending, as I am sure the Deputy is aware, where we would jeopardise the position of the State and particularly that of the HSE. It is not traditional that legal advice that could prejudice the outcome from the taxpayers' viewpoint would be put into the public domain at this point. Above all else, we all have to be professional in the manner in which we handle this issue. All the advice was available to Mr. Travers. He saw the entire legal opinion and the memorandum in relation to it compiled by the South Eastern Health Board. Essentially, the two documents——

See this speech in context