Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's final remarks but I think he should meet Mr. Thawley now. The family have asked it directly. They have gone through quite a traumatic experience with the hospital and in the Coroner's Court, where the evidence presented was completely contradictory to the internal hospital review. This raises serious questions. It was not any type of clinical review. We now know that a lot of the facts that the hospital claimed to have been established were inconsistent, incomplete, inaccurate, misleading and selective. Some of the recommendations from the report are meaningless because the facts as established in the Coroner's Court are different. For example, the internal review gave no recommendation about the issue with the ice that was aired in the Coroner's Court. This was one of the most descriptive and shocking developments in the Coroner's Court.

The Minister needs to listen to the family. They have been very direct about their request for a meeting with the Minister in order to outline why they believe an independent inquiry is absolutely necessary. They do not want any distraction or diversion by way of another meeting. The Minister should agree to meet them so that we can progress the matter. They have requested it repeatedly. They have serious concerns about this whole issue over the past number of months. That we have two seriously contradictory outlines of the elements and facts illustrates why the Minister needs to meet the family and why he needs to establish an independent inquiry. We cannot see that delayed by another process. While he might have a parallel process in train, the Minister should agree to meet Mr. Thawley and hear the serious concerns of the family.

These are concerns that might cause ripples through other aspects of our hospital system. This is one of the tertiary maternal hospitals. It had no ice. I do not have time to go through the detail of the internal report but it is absolutely shocking. This requires the full attention of the Oireachtas and this House. An independent inquiry is absolutely necessary, once the Minister has met the family. They are two simple requests. Will the Minister agree to the meeting?

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