Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)

It is difficult to try and sum up on this debate. I commend the Senators who have spoken on this difficult subject. When the history of medicine is looked at in the future, the Lourdes hospital report will be seen as a watershed for the practice of medicine in Ireland.

Many of us can only speak from our own life history. Last Sunday my mother was 93 years of age. She was a midwife all her life and I was brought up in a maternity home, a unique experience. Thankfully my mother is in great health. When I asked her what she thought of the Lourdes hospital report, she looked at me, shook her head and said: "God help us". This was the reaction of a woman who practised as a midwife all her life and who brought hundreds, if not thousands, of babies into the world. It is some indictment on the medical profession.

I have listened intently to what was said during this great debate. For the past several years I have been advocating a new graduate school of medicine in Limerick. I worked as a pharmacist all my life and have been saying publicly for years that the standard of education of doctors must be examined. I do not want this statement to be taken out of context. We have great doctors here but, unfortunately, we also have many very poor doctors. I do not want to dwell on this, but the situation must change. This report gives impetus to the Government to drive forward change and reform of the health area.

Several Senators mentioned the arrogance of the medical profession.

It is right that should be said in the Dáil and the Seanad. We have many excellent consultants and doctors in the country but unfortunately, a considerable number of them are arrogant, do not play ball with their colleagues and treat their patients in an unacceptable fashion. For too long, we as a nation have allowed that to continue. This report will put an end to that type of practice.

We should think about some of the things doctors say, sometimes publicly, such as the fact that nobody can interfere in the clinical relationship between doctor and patient. We should dwell on that for a moment. Who decided that consultants and doctors have a God-given right to define, without recourse to best practice, what is right or wrong? They are not gods, although some of them think they are.

Speakers referred to the difference between public and private practice but all patients are the same and deserve to be treated with dignity, irrespective of income. Unfortunately, in trying to reform the health services, extraneous matters are brought into the process. The Government is trying to change the consultants' contracts but is being thwarted and delayed at every step. The negotiations are moving very slowly but the Lourdes hospital inquiry gives the Government steel to move the reform agenda forward, which is necessary and the right thing to do.

Judge Harding Clark found that the so-called "three wise men" exonerated Dr. Neary out of a sense of collegiality and in an effort to allow him to return to practice. That is indefensible.