Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy has asked several questions which I will try to answer quickly. The parties to the report have until 6 July to give their views. They include the family, the doctors and the members of the board in this case. I have already given the facts about the report.

I should have said that, as I understand the matter, the Department of Health and Children wrote to the then Eastern Health Board at an early stage. I dated the sequence of events from autumn 2003 but the case arose far earlier. In autumn 2000 the man died and the Department of Health and Children wrote to the then Eastern Regional Health Authority in autumn 2001, following the first representation about the case, but finalisation of the report was impeded due to lack of access to the medical records because the deceased was a ward of court. The High Court approval for access did not come through until August 2003. That is what happened in the intervening years. The process did not start until 2003 for those reasons.

The Deputy asked whether we can be satisfied the process was good enough, given that Leas Cross was in the former Northern Area Health Board which was considered to be the best area. Of course we are not satisfied. I have acknowledged that before. This was not good enough, although the Northern Area Health Board considered its inspectorate standards were of a high order. We cannot consider it was good enough. The Tánaiste expects that Professor Drumm, and the new legislation which she will present to the House on the social services inspectorate, will ensure we reach the highest standards.

The Tánaiste has brought the question of why no action was taken to the highest level in the then health board. The report begun in August 2003 was not to my knowledge or that of anyone else brought to the Government's attention. I am not playing the blame game but the report was not brought to our attention. Only when it was suggested in the House that I look at the McKenna case did I become aware there was any report. That report was not completed until 8 June. The Government did not know about any report and could not have known about it as there was none until after the television programme was broadcast. Those are the facts.

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