Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The Senator should not joke about this – it is serious.

The legal profession, on the other hand, would have us believe somebody who does a four year degree in law needs another four years before he or she can function adequately as a lawyer. That is palpable nonsense. Either there is something wrong with the degree course or there is something wrong with the subsequent training.

There is one thing in the Indecon report which is dangerous nonsense and demonstrates how we should not let ideology get in the way of practicality. The idea that every specialist consultant should be directly accessible to every individual who has a pain, without referral from a general practitioner, is a recipe for chaos. We may well investigate whether there are enough consultants – that is a separate issue – but the idea that we would improve the quality of health care by allowing everybody who had a pain in his or her head and thought he or she had a brain tumour to go straight to a specialist rather than having to accept the practical and common-sense advice of a GP first is absolute nonsense. Only those who had let ideology cloud practicality would come up with such a recommendation.