Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Taoiseach talks about the level of risk and seeks to give reassurance that it is low. The truth is that he does not know the level of risk. There are 14,000 patients who, over the past four years, had a total of 23,000 X-rays carried out at Tallaght hospital that were not examined by a radiologist. Those X-rays have not yet been reviewed. Therefore, the Taoiseach does not know the risk.

How quickly will the X-rays be reviewed? How quickly will the individuals concerned be reassured if, as I hope, that is to be the outcome? Addressing these questions is the first priority. We need to have some information. If the Taoiseach cannot provide it now on Leaders' Questions and the Minister for Health and Children is in New Zealand, somebody from the Government needs to tell us the story today and state how quickly the 14,000 cases will be dealt with. 11 o'clock

Second, the Taoiseach did not answer the question about when the patients will be told. To the best of my knowledge, none of the patients involved has yet been told that he or she is involved and given full information on the position in regard to his or her x-rays. Third, the Taoiseach did not answer the question as to what happened in the period between when this issue first came to light and when the new chief executive officer found out about it. It seems nothing was done in that period, and there must be some explanation of why that was so.

Fourth, the Taoiseach has not answered the question as to why the Minister for Health and Children seemed not to take the matter terribly seriously when she was told about it. She tells us on the radio this morning that she did not know the full extent of it until yesterday and that she relied on the protocols and so on that are in place. If the Minister for Health and Children was told by the new chief executive officer of a hospital that there was a problem - and told it at a time when the Minister has been in out of this House and involved in public controversy about misdiagnoses and problems associated with tests not being looked at and so on - I do not understand why she did not go on alert. What did she do between the time she was told about it in December and now when it has come into the public domain?

Finally, does the Taoiseach intend to leave the Minister, Deputy Harney, in her Ministry or will he replace her? He is apparently considering a reshuffle of his Cabinet. Some time ago my party tabled a motion of no confidence in the Minister arising from some of these earlier incidents. I have a lot of time for the Minister - she has been a very competent Minister in other ways - but she has been a hopeless Minister for Health and Children and it is time she was moved.

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