Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

I understand the Deputy's wish and those of his colleagues in the constituencies in question. Unfortunately, however, as a Minister, I have wider responsibilities, as has the Government. The inquiry chaired by Judge Maureen Harding Clark and the report she produced were well received by the patients concerned and their representative organisation. The judge continues to be held in very high esteem.

Following the inquiry, when I recommended to the Government the establishment of an ex gratia compensation scheme, I believed it appropriate to ask Judge Harding Clark to determine the terms of the scheme because she had more information than anyone else and enjoyed credibility, authority and the support of the relevant organisation. I am not seeking to pass the buck to the judge. However, given her experience as chairperson of the inquiry and on the basis of her recommendations, I asked her what should be the parameters of the redress scheme. She recommended that redress be given to any patient who had an unplanned obstetric hysterectomy which, in the opinion of a consultant obstetrician, was medically unwarranted and any woman who had an unplanned bilateral oophorectomy which, in the opinion of a consultant obstetrician, was medically unwarranted.

When the issue arose of extending the scheme to others, I consulted Judge Harding Clark and she strongly recommended against doing so. I recall her saying to me that when one establishes a compensation scheme of this nature, in other words, one which did not cover all of the patients of the doctor in question - the inquiry was not held into all his patients - there will always be hard cases. She also drew my attention to several hard cases and we asked the State Claims Agency to deal with them. I believe the agency has done this.

As Deputy Ó Caoláin will be aware, one lady took a judicial review because she was not compensated under the redress scheme. The case was struck out by the High Court. I must be honest with the Deputy because I am not in a position to re-open the redress scheme or establish a supplementary scheme. It may well be that others may wish to do so in future but I do not believe it would not be appropriate for me to recommend such a step to the Government. Even if I did believe it appropriate to make such a recommendation, I do not believe that, in the current circumstances and given the other two groups from the region in question which also have grievances against individuals from the hospital concerned, the Government would re-open the redress scheme and extend it beyond the scope recommended by Judge Harding Clark.

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