John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Before the meeting of 27 February I spoke with HSE people who deal with Rehab intimately at a very senior level. I asked them their opinion on what was going on at the time. Their uniform response was that they did not understand the attitude of certain people in Rehab. They said while Rehab provided services very well and they were very happy with them, they did not understand why certain individuals were not forthcoming regarding some basic information that was not, in their opinion, a big deal. The meeting of 27 February was an exercise in unnecessary prevarication and obstruction. I was not the only one to say that at the time. When I consider the issue over the past three or four months I use the word "unnecessary".

Notwithstanding Mr. Governey's hands-up admission that Rehab knows what it did wrong and the damage that has been done to it, this has been going on for six months, going back to CRC and St. Vincent's Hospital. There was always going to be an implication for Rehab. Our direct involvement with Rehab probably began in January this year. When did the penny drop with the board members regarding the need for a change of direction? When did it dawn on them that the damage being done to the organisation and the entire charity sector was very considerable? I accept everything Mr. Governey and Mr. Kerr said regarding an agenda for change, but it has taken a long time. Did the board consider the damage to the charity sector over the last three or four months?