Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

You could have both. HIQA is entirely independent. It is the independent regulator. Will it discuss these matters with people like the Senator? He and I have talked about Clare and the mid-west every week for several years. He has been making the case for more investment in UHL and the region, including in his own county, for years. I imagine that HIQA will listen to elected representatives and that it will take submissions but it will not be swayed by marches and those kinds of things. That is just not how it operates. It will look at the data. I am not going to tell HIQA how to do this but, with a review like this, it would be normal to engage with elected representatives and to listen to civil society. That is important with regard to submissions. However, HIQA just does not work on the basis of marches and things like that. It will work on the evidence.

As to whether there is a cultural issue at UHL, the short answer is "Yes". I am not going to get into it, if the Senator does not mind. The Frank Clarke report may point to some of it. Are there cultural issues in UHL that have led to some of the poorer outcomes? Yes. To my mind, there are absolutely are. Do some of these remain to this day? They absolutely do. The new regional executive officer, Sandra Broderick, is doing an excellent job.