Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Healy conceives of this high-level official apology, which are very rare, on 4 March 2015. There are ten interactions in respect of it and some activity towards the tail end of the process in December. The apology is not made, yet a report is given to this committee that an apology was made. The committee then receives the correspondence referred to earlier from the Waterford Intellectual Disability Association, WIDA, which, I have to say, has proved to be a very honest broker in the midst of all of this. It informs us that the two HSE representatives whom Mr. Healy has cited confirmed to the association that they were never asked to apologise, that they did not apologise and that they told the HSE chief officer that no apology was given.

That is in stark contradiction of what the witnesses have told us here. There are two issues. The first, which is perhaps testimony to the HSE's ineptitude, is that all of this work happens, from March, with all of these interactions, yet there is a miscommunication, according to the officials themselves. My God - that is some shambles, is it not? A high-level apology on an issue like this - these apologies are as rare as hen's teeth - that is some shambolic carry-on from the HSE.