Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the women concerned and, in some cases, their partners, the Government's commitment is that the HSE will approach, in an appropriate and sensitive way, those women individually and talk to them in their homes about putting tailor-made packages of support together. That is what we are doing. If people want to have meetings with Department officials or there are concerns about the roll-out of that support and those packages, we can arrange that. The Government is not hiding anything. The Government wants to ensure that the HSE is delivering on the commitments that we have made quickly so that we can provide supports for people and their families through traumatic situations. With regard to court cases, I spoke to the State Claims Agency this morning about the case of Emma Mhic Mhathúna. I understand that the senior counsel representing the State Claims Agency has made it clear that there is acceptance of liability on the State's side with regard to disclosure issues. On the other issues that are being contested that involve Quest Diagnostics, the State Claims Agency and HSE have written to Quest Diagnostics to ask it to change its approach with regard to the request that had been made for assessments of Emma Mhic Mhathúna's children which, as far as we are concerned, is totally inappropriate. We want to see these issues relating to liability and responsibility resolved through mediation, out of a court environment, as quickly as possible. That is what we are trying to pursue.

See this speech in context