Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach did not answer the first part of my question in regard to consultation. Perhaps he will outline whether the Minister has spoken to Praveen Halappanavar and whether he or the Tánaiste have spoken directly to the family in advance of the announcement of this inquiry or in the aftermath of Savita's tragic death. It would be important to confirm whether they have or have not and what the nature of the contact has been.

I am somewhat surprised by what appears to be an arms length approach. The Minister is in charge of the HSE, and has indicated that. The board has been abolished. In terms of this business of the Minister requesting that the three doctors come off the inquiry team, surely he should be taking charge of this himself and should simply appoint an independent panel. Any scent of internal inquiry will undermine wider public confidence in this inquiry and will fundamentally undermine this Minister's wish that this would stand up to world scrutiny.

I put it to the Minister, and I would still argue, that there is a need for even greater independence. It does not, by the way, have to come within the ambit of the HSE. There is precedent for ministerial teams of inquiry where the Minister can establish an independent panel involving key disciplines which would then call personnel as witnesses and would access records in the hospital.

It is extremely important that the family is engaged here and that it is comfortable with the nature of the inquiry being established and that it is conveyed to the family that the Oireachtas and the Government are very anxious that the full circumstances of Savita Halappanavar's death are revealed in such an inquiry. I would appreciate it if the Taoiseach outlined the consultation involved and whether the Minister is taking charge of this. Has the Minister ordained that this will now be an independent inquiry and that the three doctors will come off it rather than requesting people to do this, that and the other?

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