Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

It is unfortunate the new Taoiseach must be required to continue where his predecessor finished in apologising continually for a litany of mismanagement affecting people's lives and the sensitivities of their families. The Government accepted the Harding Clark findings to the effect that a new system should be put in place to deal with this issue. While the Taoiseach states it is a question of human error, the company selected by the hospital sent second letters claiming the problem was due to an internal process.

The late Anne Kealy's case highlights what has gone wrong. We were told one thing by the absent Minister for chaos and health — that new systems would be put in place and that such miscommunications would never recur — but Ms Kealy, who went to hospital, had a scan and was told she had pneumonia, was told after another scan five weeks later that she had lung, kidney and brain cancer. She received two letters before dying. In 2008, €15 billion is being spent on a system that carries on in this way and experiences a litany of incidents every day of the week.

The review to which the Taoiseach referred states that eight weeks will pass before the final scans will be determined. The process will be completed eight months after the first patient was known to have been misdiagnosed. The House is aware that, after the bombshell in Portlaoise, the Minister for Health and Children appeared in the Chamber because her head was on the line and arranged for clinics that weekend. We saw them on television. What happens to the people in the north east? They are expected to wait eight weeks for the assessment of scans and X-rays.

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