Alan Kelly (Labour)

It has been done in America, so why could it not be done here? That is something on which all Members of the House would agree. It would have been a commonsense approach and would have bought the public's good will.

In conclusion, I agree with much of what Senator Coffey and Senator Prendergast said about the HSE. I visited St. Patrick's recently. As I have said previously, I agreed with the Health Information and Quality Authority's investigations, particularly into cases such as Rebecca O'Malley's. However, there is a question about the HIQA's overall role, the extent of that role, how it interacts with the HSE and how the HSE is using the HIQA in many cases to justify what many consider to be service cuts to save money. This must be addressed in cases such as St. Patrick's and the acute hospitals plans that have been announced in recent months.

The consultants' contracts were renewed recently. The HSE announced that the €80,000 due to consultants will be paid in forthcoming weeks. Was that under consideration, particularly in the case of non-exclusive public consultants, by the Government in the recent past when it was examining ways to save money?