Mr. Tony O'Brien:

I will answer the Deputy's questions. I preface that by saying it is not accurate to say the Devine report has sat on a shelf. It was provided to the Garda at the time and the recommendations within it were being implemented even while it was not published. As I told the Deputy earlier in respect of the period before the approach to An Garda Síochána in February 2015, the HSE was doing exactly what it and the health boards had previously done in situations where there were live Garda investigations. It is often described as "first principles" that one would not expect to publish a report which might have an adverse bearing on a Garda investigation. I remind the Deputy, if I may, of the extracts I quoted from the Dignam report which described that approach in particular in the context of the advice received as a perfectly reasonable one. Also, the view was put forward that if any earlier request for the written advice of An Garda Síochána had been made, it was reasonable to suppose that exactly the same response would have been received.

When I gave evidence here in 2016, I was referring to the reality, which is documented, that from the point at which I initiated proceedings to get the formal advice of An Garda Síochána, it was strongly objecting to the publication of the report.