Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I will not discuss the fitness to practise aspect of the Bill. I will discuss administration. I am glad the Minister is present.

Section 13 provides for the council to prepare a statement of strategy for its term of office. The Minister may return it if it does not comply with specific provisions. I wish to speak on this issue because the area I represent is located in the southern region. What is happening there under the HSE is appalling.

Under section 17, in Part 4 of the Bill, 25 members will be appointed by the Minister to do what Deputy Twomey spoke about, namely, to implement the recommendations of the Hanly report. That is what this is all about. Let there be no doubt that it will not go through without one hell of a fight. I am here to speak strongly on the matter of the €15 billion of taxpayer's money handed over to the HSE, some of which will be used to pay massive salaries to administrators with no affect on the business of the people. Under section 17, the Minister is determined to remove the control of the Medical Council, the regulatory body. According to the Bill, regulatory power will remain with a council, the majority of whose members will be nominated by the Minister. We know it is an absolute failure. The IMO suggests the Bill should be amended to state the Minister will have no role in the operational management of the council which must be accountable to the Oireachtas and free from political interference. This issue must be fought out when amendments are proposed.

I attended a meeting in Cork where a letter to an individual was discussed. The letter stated the World Medical Association was made aware of the Medical Practitioners Bill 2007 and indicated that, if it understood it correctly, the Bill, when it came into effect, would remove the control of the Medical Council, the regulatory and self-governing body of the profession, and that, apparently, regulatory power would then lay with a council, the majority of whose members would be nominated by the Minister. The Minister spoke——

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