Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am aware of that case. What happened in it would, I believe, have happened had this provision not been in place. People just behaved sensibly, decently and with due regard to the victim. I do not believe that removing the veto would encourage or force people to behave in a way that was anything less than decent and anything other than exactly the way in which they did behave in that instance.

I am minded to push this amendment. I have not been convinced by the argument made by the Minister. To me, it offers a veto. The difference between now and 2004 is that there is much discussion in the public domain regarding committees, what they can and cannot do, who can ask what, whether they should ask it, who is going to court etc. Given that environment, I am unhappy that the head of the HSE would have a veto on answering questions on the basis that something might happen. I do not believe removing this aspect will encourage people to behave in a way that is anything less than decent, as they did in 2015. Notwithstanding that, had the provisions not been there, I do believe the proceedings would have happened exactly as they did. That is because they happened in that way out of respect for the victim.

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