Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Renua Ireland) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and the Minister and his very large team from the health services for coming here this morning. We had a very interesting session with HIQA yesterday. I come to this from a personal point of view because I have met the families in Portlaoise. After the "Prime Time Investigates" broadcast, I brought Roisin and Mark Molloy to meet members of the health committee in January 2014. At the time I was eight months pregnant. When I had my baby, I had precisely the same experience as the Molloys - a very difficult labour with the baby's heart rate dropping. I was under the care of Professor Mick Foley and an amazing team in Holles Street, but all that went through my mind during that experience was, "Thank God I am in Holles Street". When things went seriously wrong, the staff, the care and the attention to detail saved my baby's life. If the families in Portlaoise had received the level of care I did, their babies would also be alive. That is a stark reality which I find deeply upsetting. I take the Minister at his word and hope this will not be another report which sits on a shelf. There have been so many reports over recent years relating to the health service and maternity services that it is difficult to have the confidence that anything will be different on this occasion.

The perinatal mortality statistics are completely inaccurate. Dr. Tony Holohan's report made that finding last year. Could the Minister let the committee know what precise plans are in place to make the reporting of baby deaths in maternity services mandatory and will there be criminal liability for hospitals and individuals who do not report? A voluntary system does not work. I note that the policy on open disclosure is now being rolled out through a substantial number of hospitals, but it is still a voluntary process. What does the Minister envisage for the mandatory nature of that? What will the sanctions be for those who do not participate fully and openly in the process and when will the legislation appear?

It is cause for concern that many of these issues were raised by parents directly with senior individuals within the HSE throughout 2012. There was no real satisfactory response. What is the role of the national incident management team? It expressed concern internally in November and December 2012 and that was not acted upon. Letters were written by parents, and in particular by Mark and Roisin Molloy, to Mr. Tony O'Brien, the director general of the HSE. These received vague responses and nothing was done until after the "Prime Time" documentary. It is frustrating that those responsible for the care of citizens can abdicate responsibility until the scandal is unearthed on an RTE programme. There is public humiliation of the services and then people own up and express remorse. The committee discussed this scandal with HIQA. Failures were identified locally, regionally and nationally. Four members of staff at a hospital are to be referred for disciplinary sanction, but who is responsible at regional and national level? Is Mr. O'Brien responsible? Does he intend to fall on his sword and be answerable for what has happened? Repeated letters and requests for meetings by the families were ignored until the "Prime Time Investigates" documentary. Somebody has to answer, at a national level, for a dysfunctional and negligent system which encourages cover-up rather than transparency.