Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In relation to the inspections, the STS report to Children's Hospital Ireland states very clearly that none of the issues raised following the Minister's previous visit had been addressed and new ones were discovered. The situation was actually getting worse. That is the first point.

The second point is that the Minister said I was wrong and the Department official had corrected me, which is not true. What I find crazy in this situation is that I do not expect the Minister to be across every screw that is screwed into the national children's hospital or every detail in the hospital, but when an issue arises I would expect him to be au faitwith what is happening a week later. I put it very clearly; a stop order was issued. That was only one question, but then the Minister started to dispute the whole thing. A stop order was issued to BAM. The question I have for the Minister is why it was issued but neither the Minister nor Mr. Tierney know it was issued. It was reported in The Irish Timeslast week that a stop order was issued at the end of May on the 11 operating theatres. The Minister should not have to get his information from The Irish Timesor indeed from me here today. Deputy Donnelly is the Minister for Health. This is the most expensive hospital in the history of the world, and it is blooming in terms of costs. There are question marks as to whether this issue could delay the hospital further, and the Minister does not know. I think that is crazy. Taxpayers, children, parents and families deserve to have a proper and excellent hospital. They would expect that the Minister would be hands-on when he hears there is a problem, given what we have seen develop in this hospital in recent years. I accept the Minister was not in government for some of that period, but he is sitting in front of me and he did not even know that a stop order was issued. The narrative here from both the Government and the board is "There is nothing to see here, folks and, sure, these are only four grilles that have to be moved in a ceiling." If that was it, the grilles would be just moved, but that is not the issue. It may not be in the critical pathway but these are critical to the operation of the hospital. It is 11 operating units. The ventilation in an operating theatre is crucial. The first test that was done was on whether the ventilation system was balanced, that is, whether it was working and extracting and putting in air. Of course it was. That was never the issue. The second test that is done is whether it ventilates the room. That is where the problem is because it does not. That is why, after that test in March, a stop order was issued. Does the Minister accept that a stop order was issued?