Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The little boy's name was Christopher and 18 months ago his life was ended in that hospital. The Minister of State said it is not appropriate for the details of that case to be mentioned here in the Dáil but it is not appropriate that, 18 months after this happened, there has been no effort to seek justice for that family. No truth has been given to them and no one at all has been held accountable. That is not appropriate. Christopher's mother and father are broken-hearted but they are not giving up. They have shown steely courage in maintaining their fight for justice and, despite the hospital, the HSE and the Government dragging their feet, they are determined not to go away.

The Minister of State says it is not appropriate. It is not appropriate that it is virtually impossible for a family that has been wronged by the health system to achieve justice in that same health system or that so many elements of that system will fight tooth and nail to stop a family getting justice. I do not refer to this family only but to virtually every family that tries to get justice within the health system. Patients have to go to court to get justice. That is not appropriate and it means that justice is only available to those who can afford it. This means that families that have already gone through grievous wrong have to go through years of fighting to get the justice to which they are entitled. It is not appropriate that the State burns through hundreds of millions of euro of citizens' money in forcing these families to go to court. It is throwing this money at legal cases when it should be used to help those families. This is a gross misuse of citizens' funds.

All they want is the truth and to have what happened to them acknowledged. The hospital could have done that on day one. Here we are again. I appreciate that the Minister of State says there is going to be a full and independent review. They heard that story 18 months ago but nothing has changed. I ask the Minister of State to take this family into his heart and ensure that this matter does not get long-fingered, pushed off the table or hidden.

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