Mr. Mark Molloy:

In regard to the point about alarm bells ringing with the key stakeholders, I have previously made the point, although not here today, that I do not believe anybody involved in this area has covered themselves in glory. We know that the State Claims Agency highlighted its concerns about the hospital in 2007 and that the INMO, on behalf of the midwives, had issued letters stating that the unit was unsafe and that a baby was likely to die as a result. The Department of Health and the HSE were also clearly aware of the situation as, I am sure, were various other interested parties. However, there was no coming together of that shared information. The issue for the State Claims Agency was whether there was under-reporting at Portlaoise hospital because it was not receiving as many reports about it as it was receiving in relation to other units. However, there was no coming together of the agencies on the issue. There are many stakeholders in this country involved in providing us with a decent health service, all of whom knew what was going on. They had a far greater platform than Róisín or I to tackle this issue yet all they did was issue a couple of letters about it. That is not good enough. Every key stakeholder in this country involved in the health sector needs to get involved in this if it is to be properly cleaned up.

In regard to the question about local management change at the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise, I will never again set foot in that place. To be honest, I have no idea if there has been any change.