Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

——to give peace of mind to those 97 unfortunate women who had to be called back. Everyone in the country was gripped with concern for their well-being, as well as for the other nine women. We in this House want to do the right thing.

I saw the Minister, Deputy Harney — she and I are close personal friends — from time to time correctly brief the then Opposition spokesperson in the Dáil, Senator Liam Twomey, another good friend of mine, and give him as much information as she had to hand. Senator Twomey, a medical doctor of eminence, has much to contribute in this regard because there are culprits in his profession. If they were culprits in my former profession, we would not be too long about taking action. There is no point in hiding from this. If people have the required ability, they should be in these positions, but if they do not, they should not be given such positions.

I take the Senator Twomey's point about Dr. Ann O'Doherty. He clarified her position on the interview board, which was important information for Members of this House. She is an eminent person in her own right. I have read and heard comments in various branches of the media on her involvement in this issue.

I will endeavour to invite the Minister, Deputy Harney, to the House at the earliest possible time and to make time available to have another very meaningful contribution from her. On the last occasion here, she engaged in a question and answer session and Senators were responsible in their contributions. As Senator Harris said, there is no gain for anybody toing and froing on this issue and throwing allegations across the floor of the House. Most of us were members of health boards.

When the Hollywood report was published, if the truth were told we all, regardless of whether we are members of Fine Gael, the Labour Party or Fianna Fáil, battled as hard as we could to have specialised services located in our own areas. Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight that was not the right thing to do. The recommendation of the Hollywood report for specialist services to be located in one catchment location in each area may have been correct, but given the nature of politics and human beings, we battled with each other for those services to be located in our own towns. Therefore, we as politicians have had a responsibility in this regard for a long time under the former health board system. Let us be factual, honest and put the issues on the table.

We are one of the first group of individuals who down through the years have admitted when we got something wrong or something right. No one is infallible in such circumstances. However, when people's lives are at stake let us put up our hands and say that whatever must be done should be done to improve matters.