Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept all that and I want to move on to something else. However, the point is that 75% of patients in accident and emergency units are people who would nowadays be called ordinary working citizens and they arrive in emergency units for a reason that is troublesome for them. It may or may not be an emergency, depending on triage and that kind of thing. The problem is that they are afraid. They become afraid of the activity they see going on, want to leave and are inevitably driven elsewhere as a result. I have no doubt about that. My request is simply that a review of all sorts of situations take place with a view to ensuring that all patients and staff are protected to the highest level possible. If that cannot be done, this committee and the public need to know.

My next question relates to full disclosure. We had an incident recently. Incidentally, I am not suggesting or attributing blame to anybody because every system has its challenges from time to time. The question I am raising is why the particular situation that arose in a children's hospital - one which has been under the scrutiny of and is repeatedly raised by this committee - was not subject to full or public disclosure. A period of seven, eight, or nine months appears to have elapsed before anybody in the committee knew about this matter. Members read about it in the newspapers at that stage. That is totally intolerable and it prevents the committee and the health services generally from being on top of the job to the extent they should be and members of the public expect them to be. Far from hearing and reading about it in the media, the committee should have been informed beforehand because we repeatedly raised the issue. There was total silence when we raised the issue and no indication was given as to what the problem was. The problem is a different issue and needs to be dealt with in any event, but there is no excuse for secrecy and suppressing the information until the time was appropriate.