Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I was hoping for the senior Minister for Health. Some 18 months ago, a family was told that their unborn child had a fatal foetal abnormality by a member of staff at the National Maternity Hospital. This was not the case and it was not a mistake. The false diagnosis was given to the child's mother without fulfilling the necessary guidelines or adhering to the law. The couple claims that their child would be with them today were it not for the actions of some people within that hospital. It is alleged that medical professionals who were signing off on abortions have a commercial interest in the companies that produce the fatally insufficient test.

Medical notes have shown that only one obstetrician met the mother in question. That is clearly against the law, which says that the mother must be examined by two medical professionals. The final element of the test used in the hospital showed that the baby was healthy but the abortion was carried out before the final results arrived. It is only through the diligence of the mother that she found out that the child was fully healthy because the information was not readily and openly given to her.

Moreover, the hospital did not report the abortion to the State until a letter was sent to the hospital by the solicitor for the family. When the hospital finally reported the abortion, it was well after the 28-day statutory limit in the law. The law was again breached. These are just some of the many aspects of the law and guidelines that were ignored.

It is incredible that such a level of information has been in the hands of the Government for 18 months and yet no efforts have yet been made by the previous Minister for Health, the previous Government or this Government to make sure that the family in question found justice. There is another aspect to this because abortions due to false diagnoses may have happened since. The parents affected may not even know it has happened. There is no doubt that, under the current regime, such false diagnoses will happen again. This is a public health issue and, as a result, the family are determined to seek the truth and achieve the necessary changes to ensure that this never happens again.

Not only has the family had to go through this grievous wrong, all of its efforts to achieve justice for themselves and their son have been stymied by the State. It is incredible that the mother and father were initially told that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, RCOG, in Britain was to review the case but the RCOG said it would not be able to do so. The parents met the previous Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, who assured them that there would be an independent investigation. That meeting happened well over a year ago. The family also met the Chief Medical Officer, who agreed that protective action was necessary to make sure that it would never happen again.

However, no changes have been made so far. The hospital has not co-operated in an independent, fair investigation. A hospital cannot be allowed to investigate itself. The previous Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, stonewalled me on a number of occasions when I tried to raise this issue. He stated that it was a private issue, although the family has clearly asked me to raise it. Will the Minister of State do the human, just, fair and decent thing and commit that there will be an open and independent investigation into what happened to that family?

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