Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It would certainly be much quicker than waiting for a Bill that might go into pre-legislative scrutiny before the summer. That could be a very long way out. The Minister's amendment can be amended very simply, although we do not need to get into drafting here. The amended provision could refer to two persons who are practising or have practised as a member of a health profession and a person with financial expertise. Let us meet halfway. If the Minister withdraws his amendment, we can amend this in the Seanad. It will be the same amendment but it will specify two people instead of one. My party will support that in the Seanad and we can come back here with what we need. The Minister's legal advice will be complied with, as will the committee's concern and that of the Opposition that there must be two people with clinical expertise on the board.

I have a real concern that if the mechanism for bringing the stipulation from one to two people with clinical expertise - currently there is none - comes from a Bill that may go into pre-legislative scrutiny before the summer, we know it could be any amount of time before it goes through its own Report Stage. This would be a reasonable compromise to bring about the wording desired by the Minister with what the committee and the House wants, which is to have two clinical experts and one financial expert on this board.

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