Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before I ask my questions, I want to refer to the posters that went up in the Minister's constituency yesterday, as we all saw in the media. I do not propose to speak for the committee, other than to say we all hope we will have a respectful and reasoned debate. I am speaking for myself when I say that such posters are deeply unhelpful and, to be fair, quite disgusting. That is my personal opinion.

I will move on to my questions. Can the Minister tell the committee how many of the 209 women who have been identified are terminally ill? We understand that they are ill, but how many are terminally ill?

I would like to ask about the information that was communicated to the HSE by the State Claims Agency. I understand that at yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, the State Claims Agency advised that all ten cases were known to the HSE and that there is some way in which quarterly reports are given. The Minister might tell us how all of this slipped through the net. Are there quarterly reports? If so, who gets them and where do they go? When I listened back to the proceedings of the joint committee, it was not clear to me how that would be communicated.

In Sinn Féin's submission regarding the inquiry, we suggested that while the non-statutory inquiry is under way, the time available could be used to work on reforming the legislation that governs commissions of inquiry to make it more fit for purpose. This is needed to give us the capacity to put together a bespoke inquiry that might get some answers.

My view of the impact of outsourcing on quality is well known. As a result of how seriously people in the trade union movement have taken the issue of outsourcing, a clause in the public service agreement, with which I am sure everyone present is familiar, requires consultation. The Minister might give his view on what is happening in the Mater Hospital at present with regard to the central sterile services department. It is particularly unfortunate that this issue has arisen at a time when we are facing the spectre of outsourcing and the potential that it might not have delivered for patients. I do not say that to scare anyone, I say it because the potential is there. It might not have served patients well.

It strikes me as somewhat counter-intuitive that there is a headlong rush into outsourcing, contrary to the term of the PSSA.

Last week, we discussed consultants. I have no sense that the HSE is doing anything other than counting and trying to reclassify them. As we sit here, a consultant somewhere who is probably not entitled to be on the specialist register is drawing down specialist wages and about to embark on his or her journey towards a contract of indefinite duration. I do not think anyone in the HSE is trying to stop that. As part of the recruitment process, is the HSE actively trying to recruit people from the specialist register or is it happy to allow the practice to which I refer continue? I do not see it diminishing.

My final question relates to the Central Mental Hospital, CMH, a place which is well known to me for work reasons rather than any other, I hasten to add, and the practice of clients of the hospital going directly from court to it when they have been found not guilty by reason of insanity. The CMH does not have the required staff. Can our guests provide an indication of the number of people who have been turned away and who should have been provided with places in the CMH for specialist treatment? Can they give us an idea of what services within the HSE those people are availing of and whether they are out on bail at the moment?