Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I very much agree with Senators Maurice Hayes and Jim Walsh in this matter. It is terrible that doctors are brought to hang around courts for days on end and then told they are not wanted and sent away. That is a terrible aspect of current practice and could be so easily avoided by proper case management, to see if their presence is needed. Later provisions of the Bill deal with that issue. It is really absurd. We have to get our act together in terms of a legal system. I see no reason a doctor should not be able to put his evidence on video, so that if it is needed it is there. If somebody wants to cross-examine the doctor at a later stage, he or she can be brought to court at a time that is convenient to him or her. The idea of leaving six, seven or eight doctors in a medical negligence case loitering around the corridor in the Four Courts for days on end is simply unacceptable.

Question put and agreed to.