Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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I have a deep concern about the RCOG review, which I have flagged this numerous times. I flagged it on the day of the apology to the women in the Dáil. I told the Minister and the Taoiseach that they had to get it right. My concern on this has been public for some time. I am very concerned about this letter. I believe that the timelines associated with it are worrying. It is concerning that they want to bring it in here on the final sitting day of the Parliament and release the information at that time.

The letter presents inherent issues.All the individual reports are completed. All of the RCOG reports are done. The letter also says that the aggregate report is now being completed. All the work is done. This was meant to be done by last May, then it was supposed to be done by September and then it was meant to be done by October. It is now done. The letter states:

As individual reports were transferred from RCOG to the HSE, the HSE undertook a detailed verification process to ensure that each report was provided to the right participant. This was necessary given that slides and records were identified by number only during the analysis undertaken by RCOG, to protect the privacy of women and next of kin.

Is that not inherently contradictory? The individual reports "were transferred from RCOG to the HSE". As the reports came back, they went through a filtration verification process. I know all about this process and we will talk about it whenever we have an opportunity to the HSE. When the files were transferred with RCOG, they were given a reference number to protect the privacy of the women and next of kin, yet, when the files came back through the HSE, the privacy for next of kin does not seem to have mattered. How can one have an independent review that has been verified? How can one have an independent review that is anonymous and is then verified by the HSE? Trust me, we are going to get into that detail. That is deeply worrying.

The issue is that the Department is saying it will not bring this forward, even though all the work is done, because all the women need to be communicated with. If the process of verification was so necessary and accurate, then what is the issue? The reports have been done for some time. Why is it taking so long? If the HSE needed to be instrumental in communicating this, and breaking its own rules with regard to privacy, why did it need to use couriers in some cases to find people? Why is there such a delay? Why are we being fobbed off? I have a deep concern over this and over the timelines. The Minister for Health keeps on saying it is coming, and I respect the nuances of what he is saying, but it is being pushed out and I am concerned as to why it is being pushed out. This report is proposed to be brought in to the committee on 18 December or 19 December and then to be released publicly at Christmas time, when scrutiny would not be at the same level it should be for such a serious issue. This is not the way to do business.