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asked the Minister for Health in relation to the National Health Council when it came into being, and the bodies representative of the medical profession which have been approached for nominations to it by him and by his predecessors prior to the 1st April, 1960.
10.
asked the Minister for Health in relation to the National Health Council what body or bodies representative of the medical profession were asked by him to nominate persons for membership in accordance with the provisions of section 98 of the Health Act, 1947.
11.
asked the Minister for Health in relation to the exercise of his functions under section 98 of the Health Act, 1947, why the Irish Medical Association was not asked to nominate a person or persons for membership to the National Health Council.
I propose with your permission, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 9 to 11 together.
All the information requested as to the composition of each National Health Council since Section 98 of the Health Act, 1947, was brought into operation, with an indication in each case of the body, if any, consulted before the appointment was made, is available in the Library; but in order to facilitate the Deputy I am arranging to forward to him a comprehensive list of the members of each Council.
In regard to Question No. 10, the Deputy is, of course, aware that under Section 98 of the Health Act, 1947, as amended by Section 41 of the Health Act, 1953, the Minister for Health has full discretion as to the bodies from which he will seek nominations for appointment to the Council and is not bound by any action of his predecessors. The Deputy will recollect, for instance, that he did not feel so bound when, in appointing persons to serve on the Council for the period from 1st April, 1956, to 31st March, 1958, he did not re-appoint Dr. N. C. Browne, a former Minister for Health, and Dr. F.C. Ward, a former Parliamentary Secretary in charge of health services, who had been appointed to previous Councils by his predecessor. On the other hand I took the view that the knowledge and experience which these gentlemen had gained while in office of the intricate problems involved in providing adequate and effective health services for all who might require them would most probably be of great assistance to the Council in formulating any suggestions for the expansion or improvement of these services which members of that body might care to submit to me. For this reason I appointed them, and of course the Deputy himself, to be members of the Council, having first asked and received their consent.
In appointing members to the present Council I decided not to invite nominations from the Irish Medical Association, because of the actions of the Governing Body of that Association in their attempt to prevent me from discharging my duty to protect the rights of those sections of the community for whose benefit the Health Acts were enacted. I am convinced that those who, at the moment, control this Association, being gentlemen who have shown themselves in the past to be bitterly opposed to the legislation, under which the health services are provided, are now concerned mainly to defeat the purpose which the Oireachtas intended to serve when it enacted these Statutes.
