Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The motion originally tabled for tonight, as the Minister for Health will be aware, called on him to sack the director general of the HSE, Mr. Tony O'Brien. Such a motion such never have had to be tabled by Opposition Members as the Government should have acted correctly and relieved him of his position when the extent of the scandal started to unfold over the past number of weeks. Mr. O'Brien let the Government off the hook by resigning last week after those shocking memos surfaced but this by no means draws a line under it.

Tonight's motion calls on the Government to legislate for mandatory open disclosure of all information where an error occurred that has affected a patient's care, and to do so before the Dáil summer recess. People were astonished to think that such vital information could be kept from them in the most serious of circumstances and this has done serious, possibly fatal, damage to the already fragile reputation of the Health Service Executive. Those who orchestrated this concealment must be held fully to account and my party intends to do that.

As has been mentioned already, Sinn Féin called for mandatory disclosure through part of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill last year. Unfortunately, Fianna Fáil abstained at that time and Fine Gael opted for a voluntary system which clearly does not work. I am glad to see both parties on the side of mandatory disclosure but, unfortunately, their change of attitude has come far too late for many.

This motion also proposes that it be made a criminal offence for a health service worker of any grade, any HSE official or any Department of Health official to withhold information about a patient's medical diagnosis or misdiagnosis, provide information to a patient or nearest relative intending to mislead them about such an incident or dishonestly make an untruthful statement to HIQA and-or any relevant statutory agency knowing or believing that such agency or agencies are likely to rely on the statement in the performance of their duties. This is an incredibly important proposal that aims to ensure such concealment and wrongdoing is not repeated in the health service ever again.

I sincerely thank Ms Vicky Phelan for the service she has provided to the State by bringing the scandal to light and commend other women and the families of some who have passed who have come forward to tell their own stories.

See this speech in context