Ms Cathriona Molloy:

Senator Gilroy mentioned the funding issue. We are in the situation we are because we are funded by the HSE and the background was our money came from the old North Eastern Health Board because the people on the health board at the time felt it was important to support advocacy and what we were doing and to try to put it on a proper footing. It started off there and the funding has moved all around the HSE. We are where we are. We never tell anybody that we are not funded by the HSE. Ms O'Connor has a great expression. She says the polluter pays. There has to be support for the damaged people within the system. We are honoured to be funded and to be in the job that we do, and to be able to listen to the stories of Mr. Kelly and Ms Delahunt, Mr. and Mrs. Molloy, Shauna, Katelyn and all the different stories. We are horrified and we feel so sickened in our stomachs from what we are listening to.

We have been listening to this for years. We are collecting information and trying to feed it back, but the system is not set up in a way that protects the safety of all individuals. That does not happen. Waiting for reviews takes too long. One must get independent and indemnified doctors. Any external person in a HSE review must have insurance. If one kicks up a big enough fuss and it gets into the media, people from outside the country become involved. I was on the Savita Halappanavar review. I was upset, not because I was on the review, but because I was supporting Róisín and Mark Molloy at the time and they were fighting a battle. Now we have media interest.

The situation in Portiuncula is the same. Someone from outside the country has been brought in to do the review. We are still awaiting the reports for those families that have been affected by what happened at Portlaoise. Seven obstetricians have been on the panel and there are 28 reports. If one works it out, that is four each. Go back to the Neary days. I know that is hard, but he cannot be left out. Ms O'Connor and I told the North Eastern Health Board that people needed independent reports into what happened to them. With the board's assistance, we brought two doctors from England. They saw 64 patients between them in four days. They produced their reports in less than one month and then an overall report of the care and treatment provided to those women. That was done and dusted. Why are we waiting so long to give people answers? Last Friday, I met a young couple who had had a bad experience in the maternity services. The woman contracted sepsis and became very ill. We sat down and had to try to convince an obstetrician that a review needed to be done.

I could list off countless places where we must give assistance. This is the energy that Patient Focus invests in trying to support patients, telling their stories and getting reviews, but there are obstacles in the way. This is important. Róisín and Mark Molloy are unique in what they have done. It is a credit to them, but I have always told them that it is sad that they must lose so much of their personal lives with their boys and their extended family. I did it and know what it is like to lose all of that. I understand their passion in believing that they must do it. The system should not be set up in such a way that this must happen. There is under-reporting to coroners and under-reporting of serious incidents. People on the ground have a duty. Deputy Mitchell O'Connor stated that people did not go to work to do harm. We know that, in the main, they do not. Neary was a different story. However, we must remember how many people worked with him. They moved on. Some are consultants. There is a particular doctor who is a consultant in a hospital.