Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Most Members spoke to the section rather than the amendment. The key word is "facilitate". The executive is obliged to facilitate the education and training of students and the employees of service providers. We are considering the well-established practice of the in-service training in institutions which will be managed by the health service executive of persons training not alone to be doctors but also to be medical and paramedical professionals. That is the intention of this subsection. In a more positive sense, I assure the House that the Minster does not entertain the interpretation that this is any attempt, whether overt, covert or otherwise, to exercise control through the executive over the proper independence and autonomy which the many professional and educational organisations concerned enjoy.

The amendment would have the effect of confining the facilitation referred to in the section to that provided by postgraduate professional training bodies. That would be highly restrictive. It would, for example, curtail opportunities for health professionals to receive training and education in a range of other fields apart from their professional clinical field. The obligation in this regard is to facilitate training of a wide range of staff, including medical professionals. It is an obligation that must be imposed on any health service executive in regard to the health services sector.