Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Maybe I took Deputy Daly up wrong but I thought he was looking for an historic inquiry into the case but we will have to assess that in the context of the capacity of GSOC, to be frank. We will look at that.

On the death of Shane O'Farrell and the scoping exercise, I have met the O'Farrell family, most recently with Deputy Niamh Smyth, who raised Shane's death initially today.

It is a very harrowing case and a very sad situation. I hope that the scoping inquiry will be brought to completion very quickly because it has been ongoing for nearly three years at this stage. Covid and so forth has not helped but that said, the family have made detailed submissions. The family have presented to me on the many issues they are concerned about with regard to the scoping inquiry. Before any decision is taken, I believe the Government and everybody will need to see the scoping inquiry report published. That will not, in itself, prejudice the decision of the Government around the initiation of a public inquiry but it is important that we would bring that to a conclusion. A lot of pain and anguish has been felt by the O'Farrell family in respect of the tragic death of Shane. Once the Minister gets the report, the Attorney General will give advice and will publish the report and any other issues that arise from that advice. Hopefully, we can bring the scoping part of it to a conclusion very quickly. Deputy O'Rourke referred to that also.

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the issue of Anne O'Connor ending her career with HSE and moving on to a career with the VHI, the voluntary health insurance body. Again, there are provisions in terms of cooling-off systems and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is examining even further provisions in that respect. If I am not mistaken, he may have published legislation in that regard. We must be balanced about the issue of people moving careers. I believe it should apply to people in senior positions such as Secretaries General and to Ministers but there is a limit too. There is the balancing of rights in terms of individual rights as well. The voluntary health insurance sector has a remit and a role. There is an argument to be made there and issues to be teased out there. If we are saying that people at different levels in different organisations cannot move or cannot change careers, we must think about that and reflect upon that in the context of the rights of the individual.

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