Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This practice has been ongoing for well over a decade and the Tánaiste's response is inadequate. The Department of Health has stated this is normal practice. How could it be normal practice for psychiatric reports with intimate details of a family's situation where a child has autism to be shared with the Department of Health without the consent or knowledge of the parents? How could it be normal practice for a video of a child in a most vulnerable position to be held in the Department of Health to be accessed by any individual in the Department? This simply cannot stand.

I have asked a number of questions about the publication of the internal investigation but there is a need for an independent investigation of the ethical and legal rationale for all of this. It needs to be undertaken urgently and it should not drag on. Does the Tánaiste agree that an inquiry similar in scope and duration to the Scally inquiry into the CervicalCheck screening programme is now needed, encompassing both the Department of Health, the Department of Education and the HSE? It is clear this must be properly investigated.

See this speech in context