Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

I am grateful for the opportunity, however brief, to address the House on this appalling issue. This is International Women's Day. It celebrates the glory of womanhood and the beauty of the feminine. It is poignant that this report is being debated today. It is a refreshening initiative by Parliament to redress the issue, once and for all.

I extend my deepest sympathy to the women who suffered along with their families. What happened in Drogheda was an absolute disgrace and has angered many people right across the country. Indeed, it has angered those who never knew the women but who nonetheless share their pain, silently. This terrible case has highlighted the fact that there are inherent deficiencies in how our hospitals monitor their most senior doctors and consultants. The case has seriously undermined the confidence of the people in the health system. The doctors and consultants, on whom we have depended greatly down through the years, have enjoyed tremendous respect and been held in the highest regard. In return we expected from them strict adherence to the medical code of practice at all times. That was not so in this case.

People were trained to the highest level in nursing and medical care at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, and many of those who took on the religious life prepared for the missions within the same walls where this carry-on was being perpetrated. Those who were either aware and afraid to say anything, or else totally indifferent to what was going on, must now examine their consciences and look back on those years. Thankfully, two people of great courage decided this could not remain a secret any longer. They came forward and unveiled what is now in the public domain and, most importantly, must be addressed for the future.

There are too few women in medicine, although that is changing. In UCD, for example, more than 60% of medical students are female. This issue has been an absolute indictment to humanity, both male and female. Families were deprived of sons and daughters because of these outrageous acts. I pay tribute to Patient Focus. Although I have not met its representatives I have followed, admired and support their work. It is most important when redress is being considered that all of the cases of the women in question are addressed. By this I mean that all the necessary supports, psychological, psychiatric and of course financial, must be put in place. No figure can quantify the harm and the grief involved. The mutilation that took place can never be sufficiently compensated. However, they are owed at least some measure of compensation at this stage.

I am aware that some women would have lived through those years without being fully aware of the nature of their ailments. They would have incurred enormous hospital bills as well as costly bills from GPs. All of that must be examined in the redress process.

I welcome the Tánaiste's announcement that a national perinatal epidemiological centre is to be set up at Cork University Hospital. Based on the models being proposed, we recognise this is a positive step, and will ensure that atrocious acts such as these can never be repeated. In the brief time remaining I want to emphasise that it is important that a patient charter should be drawn up and furnished to every citizen, male and female, so they are not afraid to ask any question as regards medical practice, whether in the GP's or the consultant's clinic. Sometimes even people who have attained high levels of education are afraid to ask a simple question. The bottom line for the future, however, must be that no question is foolish. The only foolish question is the one not asked.

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