Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are two parts to amendment No. 2. The first part proposes that one member will be nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to be appointed by the Minister. This is proposed on the grounds the health service is made up of workers. It sticks up for what trade unions believe is their mandate to represent the voices of workers. It would be extremely helpful to have a worker's voice on the board. I would say 95% of the workers in the health services are unionised. It would strengthen their voice.

The second part proposes that one member will be a patient advocate. Last week in the House, the Minister committed to having two such members so perhaps I am being under-ambitious. I do not know the technicalities of this but I want to keep the part regarding the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and withdraw the part on the patient advocate member.That will become clearer when we come to Senator Ruane's amendment.