Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No I would not. I welcome the back and forth but perhaps the Senator will allow me to answer the question. The Chief Medical Officer is the medical adviser to the Minister for Health. I do not believe there is any confusion or lack of transparency about that. The Chief Medical Officer's name is Dr. Tony Holohan and he is very well known to Members of these Houses. Dr. Holohan gave a view to me, to my predecessor and to this committee around how we could best implement open disclosure. I am not speaking for Dr. Holohan but my interpretation of the advice was that open disclosure should be in place right across the health service, that it is already the policy of the HSE since 2013 - but I fully accept that clearly it has not been implemented.

The advice included that we should underpin it in a voluntary nature in the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act but that we should make it mandatory for serious events in the health service by legislation. This has not just come about now. I am using the current situation as momentum to get the legislation passed. I corresponded in writing with Deputy Clare Daly, who has done great work on this, in November of last year to give her an assurance that we were going to legislate for mandatory disclosure. My understanding of the advice was to bring in open disclosure for all of the health service but to make it mandatory for serious incidents.