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

First, I raise the matter of the death of a baby in Cavan General Hospital which was reported this morning. I extend my sincere sympathy to the family involved and hope the review under way will get to the truth of what happened and bring clarity to the matter for them. I raise this matter in the context of the fact that two infants died in the same hospital in 2014 and another in November 2012. Last May the then Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, announced in a press release that he would instruct HIQA to review and pay particular attention to maternity services at Cavan General Hospital and said the use of an external agency was essential to bring objectivity to the review. However, it now appears that no formal order was made to instruct HIQA to investigate the unit and no review was carried out. Will the Taoiseach explain why that is the case?

In its report on Portlaoise hospital HIQA stated in its recommendation:

The Department of Health must now develop a national maternity services strategy for Ireland, as specified in recommendation N7 of the Authority's October 2013 Investigation into the safety, quality and standards of services provided by the Health Service Executive to patients, including pregnant women at risk of clinical deterioration, including those provided in University Hospital Galway, and reflected in the care and treatment provided to Savita Halappanaver.

The report the Minister received on 7 April on Portlaoise hospital goes on to state the development of this strategy does not appear to have progressed substantially in the intervening period and that as a result of the investigation, the investigators believe such a strategy must be supported by a nationally mandated maternity care service. Will the Taoiseach tell us what is happening? A year ago the Minister announced ago that HIQA would investigate maternity services at Cavan General Hospital but no order was issued to HIQA and nothing happened. Over two years ago, following Savita Halappanaver's untimely death, a national maternity strategy was ordered but nothing happened until HIQA's report landed on the desk of the Minister two weeks ago. Two weeks later a steering group was announced. This raises a fundamental question. At the highest level, arising from HIQA's investigations, the Department and the Government were asked to conduct a national review of the safety of maternity services but that did not happen. Will the Taoiseach explain why that is the case?

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