Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I also thank the Acting Chair, Deputy Funchion, for indulging all of us in this debate. It was necessary for the Minister to provide that outline.

Perhaps we can pull back and put a structure on this amendment. I will not be pushing the Labour Party amendment but I seek clarification one or two minor matters. Based on the new amendment the Minister has brought forward and to which we were privy, I welcome all of the work done. I, too, thank the Minister for the manner in which he dealt with this legislation before Christmas. The time and engagement have been necessary. The fact is that the 221+ group would not have supported this Bill if we had not taken the time to do what we did over the past few days.

I have been raising the issue of the absence of audits for the past couple of years and long before we got back to this patient safety Bill. I am glad the Minister said this will be over ten years. That is good information, which I did not have. I want to check a point with the Minister. Obviously this will cover bowel screening, breast screening and so on. Are there any issues around someone being statute barred given the time period? I know the period is ten years but are there any other consequential statute issues that I would not be aware of legally? I am just checking this. I do not believe it is the case but I am making sure, to be sure.

The Minister referred to the process and the wording around post-diagnosis. I take everything the Minister says here on the floor of the Dáil as being 100% correct but I presume he will put that in writing to the HSE as a result of this legislation.

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