Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to assure Deputy Chambers that the Minister for Health will progress the legislation. He will immediately examine how the patient safety elements of the Health Information and Patient Safety Bill will deal with the points at issue. I again stress the importance of amendment No. 31 and want to state that what we are doing here is returning to the original wording of section 12. The Minister for Health is proposing that mandatory open disclosure for a defined list of serious incidents would be progressed through the patient safety provisions of the Health Information and Patient Safety Bill. I can assure Deputy Chambers that I will bring the urgency and importance of advancing these issues to the Minister for Health's attention immediately.

The Minister for Health acknowledges the commitment to open disclosure of Deputies Daly and Wallace. I know they have given the issue serious consideration in the amendments, but I believe this is an issue for the Department of Health. I understand the rationale for the amendments, but I cannot support them. It is important that we proceed along the lines of voluntary open disclosure and that is the best, most opportune and clearest way to proceed with this legislation at this point. I hope that in these circumstance the Minister for Health's amendment can be accepted.

If there are two parallel pieces of legislation we will create a complex and detailed area of uncertainty. This legislation is now extending far beyond the parameters for which it was originally designed. I ask the Deputies opposite to give due consideration to that, along with my commitment on the part of the Minister for Health.

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