Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

On the enactment of the legislation, however, he will, in effect, be a member of a health board because the Houses of the Oireachtas will have functions in respect of the health service executive and the Minister. Committees of the Houses will, as appropriate, be able to summon officers to appear before them in order to question them about matters. Senator O'Toole will note that the provisions relating to accountability provide for the service plan and the annual report. The latter must be submitted to the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I accept that section 7, as is common in any statutory provision or in the objects clause of a limited liability company, is drafted in broad terms. However, it is appropriate to have such a provision in this Bill because we must set out, in general terms, what will be the objective of the executive. It is important that these terms should be as general as possible because if they were too specific, the health service executive might exceed or go beyond the scope of its proper powers and functions.

In such circumstances, therefore, the Parliamentary Counsel has provided for wide objectives for the executive in order that it might, in effect, do anything it desires in respect of the services. The section states that the executive is "to use the resources available to it in the most beneficial, effective and efficient manner to improve, promote and protect the health and welfare of the public". Nobody in the House could disagree with that objective. Equally, however, no lawyer could say that objective does not cover a wide range of functions and powers. That is the purpose of section 7, namely, to give the executive maximum power to deal with what it is being established to deal with.

Senator O'Toole raised a fair question — I do not dispute its validity — about accountability, which is provided for in section 7. The section provides for an executive that will prepare and submit corporate plans to the Minister, for publication of the implementation of the plans, for serviced plans, for amendment of plans and for accountability to these Houses.