Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I fail to see how that is the case. Perhaps the Minister will explain how the two midwives in question would be protected because my reading of the legislation is obviously wrong. The reason the Bill will fail is that the Minister did not provide an option allowing people to contact a truly independent person. She will not achieve the objective she has set for the so-called amendment on whistleblowers. The provision is a sop to hide her failures in this area over the past eight or nine years during which she has paid scant regard to the protection of patients in the health care system. She is trying to rush through a number of Bills to prevent her from being exposed as having disregarded patient protection.

The only way to protect patients is to establish a patient safety authority with full responsibility in this area, as the Labour Party and Fine Gael Party have proposed. People would trust such an independent body to inquire into their complaints. The Minister obviously does not like information of this nature entering the public domain. Her failure to establish an independent patient safety authority notwithstanding, one would at least expect her to regard Members of the Oireachtas as suitable authorising persons on condition that they made inquiries in a discreet manner through the appropriate Minister. Deputies do not abuse parliamentary privilege because they respect the institution of the Oireachtas. The Minister could have made such a provision. She failed miserably and has made a lukewarm attempt to cover up the gross failings of the Government in the area of patient safety.

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