Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I have learned the hard way to be wary of any Government explaining that it does not want to make public disclosures because they may become too cumbersome. In my experience of a variety of Governments in the past 25 years all disclosure is deemed too cumbersome so their instinct is to disclose as little as possible. It is a pity the Minister of State did not say explicitly which data must be published but I will not make a huge issue out of it. I accept the HSE will publish information because it is beginning to develop an understanding that disclosure is better than the opposite. The best way to deal with public complaints is to put everything out in the open, because the case can be better made, rather than selectively withholding information. The delays in publishing the report of the inquiry into Leas Cross probably did more harm to the image of the HSE than the contents of the report itself. The public perception that, for whatever reason, the HSE was reluctant to publish made the disclosures, when they finally came, appear even worse than they actually were.

I am sorry the Minister of State will not accept my amendment. I dream about these things but I appreciate his kind words, which were nothing less than what I would expect from a man for whom I have considerable regard. He is nearly from my own parish so I have little choice in that.