Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

Let us be sensible about it. The Minister has to deal with those where skeletal maturity applies in terms of the cases that have been the subject matter of the external review, which is about 15 years. For those over that, they are in a transitional programme of care already as they transition to adult care. However, the Minister has said that this can be looked at in the context of getting the first phase done initially.

I wish to make one cautionary note that private healthcare does not mean unethical. Many people who operate and engage in the private sector generally are not unethical. I do not know the reasons as to why this happened. We need to inquire further into the how and the why. Different factors could be responsible for that. I raise the fundamentals. There is an ethical framework to which every doctor is meant to adhere. That has to be the key issue for us to explore.

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