Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is well aware of the disclosures we are discussing because they have been discussed in the House several times. The Minister of State referred to the review. He appointed Mr. Christopher O'Toole to conduct an independent review. That report was farcical, not because of Mr. O'Toole's work, but in the terms of reference he specifically stated that he did not have the expertise to carry out the tasks set for him by the Minister of State. That review is pretty much useless. There is nothing preventing the Minister of State from conducting a medical review of those people who are potentially affected. There is nothing in the disclosures legislation to prevent the Minister of State from doing that.

With regard to a cover up, the Minister of State has still not explained or taken any action to deal with the reports from 1995 and 1997, from the now dissolved public body Forbairt, which identified risks around air quality in the workplace. Those reports went missing. We believe they have been shredded; we do not know where they have gone. The reports are not in the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces do not have them. The Minister of State has taken no action to uncover why those reports went missing. Given that they were conducted a couple of years apart they could not have been housed together. On a cover up, the Minister of State can understand why people are sceptical about where and why the reports have gone missing, especially considering the sensitive nature of the content within the reports that the Minister of State and I have had sight of because somebody had the foresight to hold on to a copy.

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