Mr. Tony O'Brien:

We are expecting an answer on Birthrate Plus at the end of April.

With regard to the open disclosure policy that has been published, it is a national policy. We must recognise that moving from an environment of limited or no disclosure to open disclosure is a challenging journey for individuals to make.

At a central level we have to provide appropriate supports to enable staff to do so. Our quality and patient safety division is working on same. Certainly, we are also looking at how we support in a different way institutions - like Portlaoise for example - when they find themselves or get into a situation they find difficult to handle and, in an appropriate way, how we support them to do so in a different way. That is part of the CMO's recommendations.

With regard to the issues arising at St. Vincent's University Hospital and St. Vincent's Private Hospital, the approach that I have taken to this issue throughout the sections 38 and 39 audit is that it is somewhat less about the individuals and more about the governance environment.