Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I think he realises how delicate democracy can be. Fianna Fáil has been in power for 18 of the past 20 years and that party does not particularly care about what is being discussed here, as is evident from the fact that none of its members is here this morning. Fianna Fáil is more interested in controlling the organisations that give leadership. It controlled the unions, the local authorities and the former health boards. By that way, one can instil either active or passive support. In other words, some people in the councils would proclaim to be strong Fianna Fáil supporters, seeing their advancement coming from that because the party has been in power so long, or they must passively support Fianna Fáil, pressure being brought to bear because the party is such a dominant political organisation.

It is ironic that the Progressive Democrats Party has overseen the continuation of this policy. In its own lust for power, it allowed changes to the Freedom of Information Act 1997 and even allowed its own Minister attempt to gag the media. Now that the PDs are redundant to Fianna Fáil, they have left it in a stronger position than when their party was formed 20 years ago.

This is a fear that the autonomy enjoyed by the Medical Council will be taken away. As the Minister correctly pointed out, the Medical Council exists to protect the public interest, not to protect doctors. Since the Minister refuses to set up a patient safety authority, there is no other organisation that can protect the public interest in the way the Medical Council can at present. There may be a gagging clause imposed on the Medical Council because of the ministerial role. However, the Minister will be gone after the summer and, God forbid, we might have another Michéal Martin in the Department who cannot make up his mind to save his life, not to mind the lives of 4 million patients.

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