Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I did not commission the Travers report to shelter anybody from anything. The inquiry was set up on 16 December, long before there was any decision by the Supreme Court or even a decision by the President to refer the Bill to the Supreme Court. I established the Travers inquiry because I became aware on 15 December that the report given to me to take to the Cabinet was incorrect in some crucial respects. It did not inform the Government that a letter had been drafted to be sent to the Attorney General which was never issued. I felt that was a serious omission on behalf of the Secretary General of my Department.

We did not know the extent of the knowledge in the Department of Health and Children going back to 1976. The Travers report found that the basic decision that caused the problem was that made in 1976. At that time, the legal advisors in the Department cautioned against doing what was done. The error goes back to 1976 and that is why the State is exposed for certain cases, such as someone with an unsound mind. That is why the figures go beyond the Supreme Court figures of around €500 million and why they might go as high as €2 billion. A total of 316,000 citizens were resident in these institutions between 1976 and 2004. I have already said that there is a serious conflict of interest in the report between the former Minister, Deputy Martin, and the Secretary General, Mr. Michael Kelly. I have also said that I will not adjudicate on a conflict of evidence as it would be wrong of me to do so. Mr. Travers drew his own conclusions and whether we like the report or not, we should all be objective enough to accept an independent report when we get it. If we do not like what it states, that is a reflection on us. Mr. Travers stated that the bulk of the responsibility for what happened lay in serious failings in public administration. He stated that Ministers should have been more probing and should have asked more questions, but he was in no doubt on where the blame lay.

I became Minister at the Department of Health and Children on 30 September 2004 and I was never briefed either orally or in writing about this matter by any official at the Department. I find that extraordinary if it was of such concern. In a memo written for the Government in early December, the Department maintained that these charges were legally defensible. We all know from the Travers report that could not be anyone's view when we see the legal evidence that was available to the Department going back nearly 30 years.

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