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

It is clear that the then Minister did not order a probe as such at Cavan General Hospital. The Taoiseach used the phrase to "prioritise monitoring" at Cavan General Hospital, but the press announcement at the time indicated that the then Minister had ordered HIQA to probe the death of the baby at the hospital.

On the national maternity services strategy, in 2013 HIQA conducted a major report on the Savita Halappanaver case. As the Taoiseach will recall, it was a major issue at the time and there was huge controversy surrounding the case. It was clear back then that there was a need for a national maternity strategy to be developed. We then had the inquiry in Portlaoise by HIQA and one of its conclusions was that the Minister and the Department of Health had not followed through on a key recommendation made in the Savita Halappanaver inquiry. HIQA's report on Portlaoise hospital went on to state it had found the fact that it had not happened unacceptable, indicating: "The Authority considers the delay in developing and publishing a national maternity strategy unacceptable." The report was published in April, after the report on Portlaoise hospital.

Some say it is a scandal that no action followed the Savita Halappanaver inquiry.

The e-mail from which I quoted yesterday from the national incident management team stated there were numerous sad and serious cases in all sites across the country. Was Cavan one of those sites? It seems people at the higher levels of the Department of Health, the Government and the HSE were all aware that there were serious safety issues. The same applies to the case of Savita Halappanavar but, for some reason, for two years inactivity seems to have been the order of the day in establishing the national review. Why was it not established after the 2013 report?

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