Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yes. We are supposed to be living in a place where people have free speech and can protest if they want to do so. That is the whole idea of democracy. For some Deputy to stand up here and go accusing doctors of letting on to be something they are not is outrageous and a slur on our medical profession. The medical profession has difficulty in dealing with this issue and will have further difficulty in dealing with it. I spoke to many medical people over the weekend who are extremely concerned about what will happen in January. As Minister for Health, Deputy Harris should know first-hand all the other issues there are. He continuously says here that we cannot talk in the context that everything else should be right before we go doing this. I am not even saying that to him; what I am saying is that the medical profession has it well flagged to senior people in the HSE that this will cause problems in January that they cannot even foresee or quantify at this stage. The Minister himself knows this is the truth but is not admitting it. I would like if he did.

I will repeat on the record that the Taoiseach should withdraw the nasty things he said today, which were factually incorrect and untrue. To prove my point, I could talk for another three minutes if I wanted to do so - I am entitled to do so - but I will not, just as I did not speak for my full allocation of time last week. So tell that to the Taoiseach and tell him to stick it.

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