Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I regret that the Minister for Health and Children did not remain in the House for a few minutes longer. I cannot think of anything more important than the health and concerns of the people, 4,600 of whom have been asked to wait a maximum period of eight weeks before finding out the exact position regarding their X-rays and CAT scans. It is of fundamental importance to our society that when an error is made or health misdiagnoses take place, there is complete transparency, openness and honesty in respect of what happened.

It is time for the Government and the Health Service Executive to think again. It is time to concentrate on shortening considerably the maximum eight-week waiting period before learning one's correct diagnosis. There are many ways to so do, some of which have been discussed by the HSE and some of which have not. The Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, and his boss, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, have a duty of care to all the people affected to ensure this waiting period is as short as possible. They must wait for eight weeks, or 56 days and nights, although the original X-ray may have been taken more than a year ago. If something is wrong, people cannot afford to wait.

The health service in its entirety, including doctors and radiologists, must act in concert with the HSE, the Minister of State and the Minister — who would not wait five minutes for Members — to ascertain whether the waiting period can be abridged and whether something can be done to sort it out. Why can this not happen within one week or immediately? There is no reason people should be obliged to wait for eight weeks - one would not wait eight weeks for a tooth filling. Thankfully, the majority of those concerned have been told there is nothing wrong with them. However, many of those who have been in contact with my colleagues and me have had cancer in the past. Many have put behind them breast or lung cancer and have had X-rays in the interim. Such people are deeply worried about what is happening at present. They suffer anxiety and sleepless nights, and their families also are worried. It was not good enough for the Taoiseach to state today that a precautionary principle is being applied and that eight weeks is okay. It is never okay and never will be acceptable. That it has come to this is a disgrace.

This happened because there was no oversight and no audit. I have to hand Ms Justice Maureen Harding Clark's report into the Dr. Neary affair. Dr. Neary got away with his actions because there was no audit of his work. While I do not suggest the consultant in this instance is in the same realm, the key point in the Harding Clark report stated there must be clinical audit of all consultants in the system. However, no clinical audit of the work of the man concerned took place and this is the reason these people are suffering tonight.

I wish to make two further points. Although what took place was bad enough, the Government also messed up the mail merge. The health service has 100,000 employees, as well as an entire Department of Health and Children. However, faced with the obligation to contact 4,600 people, the mail merge was outsourced and given to a company that could not deliver. It messed up the mail merge and sent the wrong letters to the wrong people, including letters to people who are deceased. Not only did it send a first letter, it also sent a second letter. Today I received a telephone call from the family of a person who was in her 90s when she passed away. They had previously received two letters addressed to her but today they received a telephone call asking that she go to the hospital to have her X-ray examined. This demonstrates how appalling this mess is.

The Government has demonstrated it does not care. The Minister will not even wait to discuss what is the most important issue to have arisen in my region for many years. It is an absolute and total disgrace. The Taoiseach has stated he is a republican and has spoken of the new Republic. I understand he has used words such as "equality", "brotherhood" and "fraternity". In a republic other than a banana republic, equality of treatment above all else would mean emergency action in this case. One would press all the buttons to ensure these people were looked after and would ensure that no head would lie on a bed worrying about his or her diagnosis for a single night longer than was necessary. This is the key. However, the Health Service Executive could not care less and is not accountable and the Minister will not sit and listen to Members for five minutes.

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