Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

On 23 November 2004, almost three years ago to the day, the Minister for Health and Children introduced the Health Bill in this House. She stated that, "the two ways Government health policy should be judged; better outcomes for patients and better value for taxpayers' money. To achieve them, we badly need clarity of roles and accountability, political responsibility for the Minister and management responsibility for the management." She specifically stated, "as it is, the Minister and the Government is responsible for setting overall health policy and it is essential that the Minister has the power to inform the executive of policy decisions made and to direct it to carry out its duties in compliance with Government policy. The executive is also required to provide the Minister with any information or statistics relating to the functions of the executive which may be requested."

Whatever we got in recent weeks, or whatever the Minister got from the Health Service Executive, she appears to have got very little information or statistics. Later this evening, we will come to the question of the political and management accountability that she herself so accurately described and set the parameters for when she introduced the Health Bill three years ago.

When the scandal in Portlaoise came to public attention, both Deputy Kenny and I raised questions with the Taoiseach in the House about what happened in Portlaoise. He told us that Dr. Ann O'Doherty had been appointed to carry out some kind of an inquiry or review into what happened in Portlaoise and that he could not give us or the public any explanation for the events in Portlaoise and the misdiagnoses until that report was completed and available.

On 6 November 2007, the Taoiseach informed us specifically that the review would be completed that week and would be published by the end of the month. Is it true that the report has been completed and, if so, where is it? When will it be published? Why has it not been published before we debate this issue in the House this evening? Is it true that Dr. O'Doherty did not interview the consultant radiologist who has been put on administrative leave? Three months after it came to the attention of the Minister for Health and Children, do we now have an explanation for the misdiagnosis which took place in Portlaoise and which has been added to by the truly horrific addition of 97 other cases in the course of the past week?

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