Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

First, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health and Children, the Minister of State with responsibility for children and senior HSE executives met yesterday afternoon to follow up on the issues of concern raised by the Government. In March this year, the Minister of State wrote to the chairman of the HSE asking for the information required to be made available to him in April. He did not receive correspondence until May and, following on from that, he took the action he did in the context of ensuring information is made available. When the Minister of State raised this issue with the HSE regarding the forthcoming correspondence, there was absolutely no view that there was any confusion or issues raised by the HSE at that time. Following the meeting with the Taoiseach yesterday and the senior executives, the HSE is responding to the request for information.

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