Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To go back to the interim chief executive of the HSE, we are now hearing that the information about these patients and people needing to be informed was in the HSE early in 2016. Mr. Breslin is saying that had he known, after a short period, if that had not happened, it would have been a matter so serious that it required escalation to a Minister. While I am not talking about Mr. Connaghan personally, Mr. Breslin considered the fact that that situation was not managed, and that the patients were not informed of the facts obtained during that period, a serious issue. Had he known that, it would have gone straight to the Minister the next day he was in town. There is a serious failure with the HSE not monitoring the fact that the patients were not being informed. Mr. Breslin says it was so serious that, had he known about it, he would have informed the Minister. Does Mr. Connaghan take the point? We are trying to make Dr. Scally's job easier. We are putting responsibility in. We are getting to the kernel of not following through on a situation. It was well-known in the HSE that Mr. Breslin has said what he said. He should have known. If he had known the situation, he would have moved on it.