Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I express my deep regret to the women affected by the trauma and suffering as a result of the events of recent years. Since these issues came to light in 1998, they have been acted upon and have been thoroughly investigated and the Cabinet approved publication of the reports of today. I commend the work that has gone into the preparation of this report. It is a good job and an excellent bringing together of an enormous amount of facts and reports. The findings and recommendations will be examined immediately and in great detail by the Department of Health and Children in consultation with the Health Service Executive and the various professional regulatory bodies involved in quality assurance in the hospital service. This affects a range of groups and that will happen. The Tánaiste will meet Patient Focus tomorrow and discuss the other issues mentioned by Deputy Sargent. She will discuss matters with the support groups and many of the former patients who attended at Drogheda hospital. We promised we would do that as soon as the report was published and it is there that those matters should be discussed.

With regard to legislation, the report's findings and recommendations will be dealt with and will be of considerable benefit in terms of informing the approach being taken in the preparation of the medical practitioners Bill. That Bill is already well advanced but the recommendations of this report will help in its completion and will be very beneficial. It will also be beneficial in the work that is well advanced on the health information equality authority and in the current consultant contracts negotiations. It will feed into all of these issues. I assure the House, now that we have this report, that we will be able to deal with these issues and to move on as quickly as possible.

See this speech in context