Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I articulated the point on a radio programme yesterday that it is almost a case of wanting to know the end result of a tribunal before it has reached its conclusions and if we do not agree with them, there is something wrong with it. That is not to take in any way from some of the genuine critique that has been articulated in the House but it is something about which we must be careful. We cannot have judge, jury and execution before a tribunal has even reported. Otherwise, we will undermine the whole process from the beginning. It is meant to be an independent process and once the Oireachtas establishes the creature that is a tribunal, we are at the mercy, to a certain extent, of both the way it works and the efficacy of the body itself and the personnel involved. We set in train an independent process and it reports back to us with its findings.

I agree with the idea of a convention as to how reports should be presented. Reports should have executive summaries and there are important issues about the organisation and presentation of reports.

I take Senator Minihan's point in that the Lindsay report is critical of various people. If I were in the shoes of certain individuals reading the Lindsay report, I would be distinctly uncomfortable. The Department of Health and Children, the BTSB and medical professionals come in for significant criticism in the report. The language may be different from other reports but Senator Minihan made the point that we should not misinterpret some of the language either. Certain pictures emerge from the report in terms of what went wrong, and certain people could not contribute to the report and give their knowledge of what happened because they are no longer alive.