Dermot Fitzpatrick (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The massive inertia embedded in the system is unbelievable. It is difficult to know how to address the problem. Gerry Robinson was involved in a three-part series on the BBC and was interviewed on "The Late Late Show" about his experience. It is easy to make such a programme. I agree with much of what he said but if he had to run a hospital on a daily basis, he would come up against a range of problems, including personal, managerial and clinical, that he would end up tearing his hair out.

The Minister's aim is to have patients' problems dealt with by consultants from the initial point of entry in hospital. Accordingly, she has proposed the appointment of an extra 1,500 consultants. This should make a difference to the delivery of health services. It will also make a big difference to the Irish Hospital Consultants Association. As a result, the people with whom we are dealing today may not be there in the future. These younger consultants will have different problems and demands. Many of them are adequately qualified to become consultants and frustrated because their ambitions are blocked by lack of entry to consultant grade.

The Minister is maintaining the membership of the Medical Council at 25. However, leaving the council unchanged is not an option in view of the Drogheda debacle, for example, which has helped to focus minds. I am surprised to learn that it is 30 years since Dáil Éireann took an interest in the council. Sometimes it takes a tsunami-like event to focus our minds. The council, as currently constituted, failed in dealing with what had happened in Drogheda. I hope members of the new council will be taken from outside the medical, paramedical and nursing professions. Neither should they work for the HSE. They should come from different walks of life to bring the views of the ordinary Seán citizen to the council in dealing with the problems which come before it.

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