Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)

While I appreciate the principle behind this amendment, it is not a good idea for HIQA to revisit past events. HIQA is a new body with a new mandate and its role will be to prevent the mistakes of the past recurring, through quality-based and patient safety driven standards, accompanied by better information systems rather than by investigating them.

We have a range of existing mechanisms that can be used to investigate historical matters, for example, the legislation introduced by the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. This legislation would allow investigations in the health area. It would be inappropriate for a body such as HIQA to begin by conducting historical investigations.

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