John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I will place the facts before the House. The Fianna Fáil members of the Joint Committee on Health and Children decided to work with Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Sinn Féin to try to agree a motion. Deputy Reilly forgot to read out three separate proposals that we, as a responsible group in the joint committee, tried to work towards. For instance, he failed to mention the motion stating that we recognised that the proposed changes in the contract between the HSE and pharmacies should be designed to allow financial sustainability. Deputy Reilly had a copy of that text.

The Deputy telephoned me on the relevant evening to find out whether the motion which had been issued in my name was the Fianna Fáil Party motion. I made clear to him that this was not the case and, as he will be aware, I told him the next morning as we entered the committee room that I would clarify the issue at the start of the meeting. I informed the members of the joint committee that the motion had been issued in error and the secretariat had mistakenly understood that the text was to be issued. It was one of three possible motions and the Deputy accepted my explanation. Today, however, he has tried to detract from the issue.

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