James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

With regard to advisers, if I ask my adviser to pass a message or instruction to an individual in the HSE, I see no issue with this. It is the same as me picking up the telephone and saying it myself. There will be specific times when they will be asked specifically to make a request or send a message to an individual. That is entirely different from giving somebody authority across the entire system. The Deputy will find that there have been specific issues, but there is no general ability to instruct or do otherwise.

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