Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Okay. Despite of the fact that there is much support for the recommendations that HIQA made in this particular case, the circumstances it uncovered at the time now pertain again. Ms Dunnion has outlined that HIQA's is a monitoring rather than a regulatory role. It is very difficult, therefore, to see how it would be possible for HIQA to drive standards up in the absence of particular powers. The consultant who wrote the email states that 350 patients die every year in the State and that, according to the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, overcrowding is a factor at the time of death. One aspect of our work, when the HSE is before us, involves looking at contingent liability in cases where there is a failure that can be demonstrated. One of the points made by the consultant to whom I refer is made is that the fire certificate does not cover the relevant unit where some of the elderly patients have been, to use his word, "boarders" for fairly long periods. There is only one access door and there is only one isolation room into which six patients who required isolation for infection control purposes were put.

Very serious failures have been identified by this consultant and these would have obtained pretty much around the time that HIQA conducted its investigation. It screams that there needs to be regulation. On the idea that this involves a cost, there is also a cost if action is not taken. The contingent liabilities relating to the HSE are probably testament to that. The cost ran to hundreds of thousands of euro. Has HIQA conducted a repeat investigation at Tallaght hospital?