Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. I am concerned most by the letter from Mr. O'Driscoll on this issue. It states that following the outbreak of tuberculosis in 2011 in the Irish Prison Service it was recognised that a whole-of-prison approach to TB control was required. It further states that the tuberculosis management policy was completed on 3 January 2019. It took eight years from the outbreak being notified in 2011 for the Department and the Prison Service to come out with a management policy for TB, which they only completed earlier this year. That they were writing a policy eight years after the event shows there was no learning of sufficient quality in the intervening period. That is utterly unacceptable and it leaves the State and the taxpayer wide open. It is clear that the line Departments, such as the Department of Justice and Equality in this case, the HSE, the Air Corps and other agencies do not seem to learn but, rather, just pass the bill on to the State Claims Agency to be paid by the taxpayer. That must be addressed when the agency representatives come before the committee. The outbreak occurred in 2011 and a management policy for TB in the Prison Service was compiled eight years later. That speaks volumes as to how seriously the Department took the matter. We will note and publish that correspondence. I agree with the points made by the Deputy.