Mary Henry (Independent)

It is important that this is made plain to the general public. I welcome the fact that people on a specialist register must have specialist qualifications. There are medical people entering the country every several weeks to undertake complicated medical procedures. One must query their qualifications. That they do not have to have specialist qualifications must be made well-known to the general public. If a doctor is on the Irish register, it could be assumed his or her specialist qualifications are similar to those of an Irish doctor. This is an area, where through court cases, we have seen there has been trouble. Some of the people concerned were not resident in the country. I am delighted with the proposed legislation on who is qualified to run a hospital. I am amazed at the number of hospitals that have been started.