Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Today we are returning to matters related to State claims, the management of legal costs, open disclosure, and the implications of CervicalCheck revelations. We are joined today by Mr. Jim Breslin and Dr. Tony Holohan from the Department of Health, and Mr. John Connaghan, Dr. Colm Henry, Dr. Jerome Coffey, Mr. Liam Woods, Ms Rosarii Mannion, Dr. Stephanie O'Keeffe, Mr. Damien McCallion, Dr. Peter McKenna and Mr. John Gleeson from the HSE. From the Medical Council, we are joined by Mr. William Prasifka and Dr. Audrey Dillon. From National Cancer Registry Ireland, we are joined by Professor Kerri Clough-Gorr. They are all very welcome to today's meeting.

We will be taking the opening statement and remarks from the Medical Council first because the representatives have another engagement. Everybody has agreed to this. When the representatives have their opening statement made, they will be free to attend their other meetings. If something arises during the course of the day that is relevant to the Medical Council, we can send a letter to the witnesses seeking a subsequent response in writing.

The witnesses at this meeting have all made themselves available at short notice. I am thankful for their assistance in this regard.

I remind everybody to turn off all mobile phones. That means turning them to airplane mode because merely putting them on silent is not enough; it will interfere with the recording of the proceedings.

I advise the witnesses that, by virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, they are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. However, if they are directed by it to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and they are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person, persons or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable.

Members are reminded of the provisions of Standing Order 186 indicating that the committee shall refrain from inquiring into the merits of a policy or policies of the Government or a Minister of the Government, or the merits of the objectives of such policies. While we expect witnesses to answer questions put by the committee members clearly and with candour, witnesses can and should expect to be treated fairly and with respect and consideration at all times in accordance with the witness protocol that has been circulated.

Viewers should note that since this controversy arose a number of weeks ago, on 2 May, this is the seventh meeting in the Oireachtas on the matter. The Joint Committee on Health held three meetings, on 2 May, 9 May and 16 May. The Committee of Public Accounts held meetings on 10 May and yesterday, 16 May, and it is holding one today, 17 May. The Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach held a meeting on 8 May with the State Claims Agency. That amounts to seven meetings. In the course of those seven meetings, we have heard from seven people from the Department of Health, 15 from the HSE, including those at today's meeting, four people from the State Claims Agency, two from the Medical Council, and one from National Cancer Registry Ireland. Yesterday, we were joined by Ms Vicky Phelan, Mr. Stephen Teap, and Mr. Cian O'Carroll. Therefore, 32 people have been present at the seven meetings since 2 May. We know we put enormous pressure on the witnesses. Many people have had to attend multiple meetings and we recognise they have other work to do dealing with this issue, but the work of Oireachtas committees is very important to the public interest. People want to hear these matters spoken about and dealt with here. I acknowledge the discussions will move to another forum in due course but I wanted to put on record the number of meetings in case people were interested.

I ask Mr. Prasifka to make his opening statement. He will be free to attend his other meeting afterwards. If issues arise during the course of the meeting relevant to the Medical Council we can send any questions to it in writing for a response thereafter.