Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Reilly began by referring to numbers. As he rightly pointed out, reference was made to the number being 4,000 initially. Professor O'Dowd said on the radio he believed the number was 20,000 at one point. As we now know, the figure is almost 58,000. I can only repeat that what has happened is clearly some kind of system failure. It is totally unacceptable but it has been remedied. We are in the process of ensuring those patients who are entitled to have their radiology reported on by a consultant will have this done in the next few weeks. That is the main point on which one must be assured in this discussion.

From my experience as a Minister of State with responsibility for children, the role of HIQA, as an inspectorate and body that provides support and advice, has been exceptional. It has constituted a significant instrument of reform in our health service and the delivery of crucial social services, particularly in the area of child protection. In the House, we tend to look at issues with the benefit of hindsight. What appears in hindsight to be obvious is far less clear-cut at the time it occurs. We tend to judge these matters not with foresight but with hindsight. In those circumstances, it is possible to be outraged and scandalised as easily as Deputy Reilly is in the House.

Deputy Reilly asked when remedial action-----

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