Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 7, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following:“(4) A minimum of two members of the Board shall be persons with expertise and/or experience in patient advocacy.”.

We say we look for a skillset in terms of patient advocacy. Anybody could have the skill to be a patient advocate and could display it in past employment. There would be two patient advocates and even though they have other skills which they bring, they are very much patient advocates. That is very much the skill they are bringing to the fore as well as having lots of other skills, whether they come from the charity sector or whatever organisation they have been working in. It should not just be that people on the board have skills in patient advocacy but that those two appointees are patient advocates. They have all these other skills but their position should not get lost in financial management, for example. When it comes down to it, patient advocacy should be very much to the fore. I would like some commitment that we will not just look for a skillset across the board but for two patient advocates. That is the purpose of the amendment.