David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is an extremely difficult scandal to come to terms with. My thoughts are with the children affected by this tragedy and their families. I hope the Minister will ensure those children and their families will get every support they need, including health supports, emotional supports and other supports as well. This is one of the most tragic scandals I have come across in my time as spokesperson on health. At the heart of this scandal are 19 children and their families who have been traumatised, harmed and wronged. Sadly, in one case, a child has passed away. That family will not be whole again and many other families will carry with them for many years to come the harm and trauma of what happened to their kids.

I have two young boys and we all worry about the health of our children. Any harmful impact to any of our children is obviously really traumatic. I hope every person in this House empathises and fully understands the scale of the trauma and hurt those families will be feeling. I can only imagine what that pain is and their experience in recent times.

These families are at the centre of this scandal but they must also be placed at the centre of the State's response. The children and their families must be put first. That has to be the Minister's main priority as Minister for Health. That may not be easy for them but it is only right we give them their place and it would be wrong to exclude them. As families have told me, however difficult this might be, it would be worse for them to be excluded, but yet that is what many of them feel. They feel the Minister has excluded them. He certainly excluded patient advocates and the parents of children who are languishing on waiting lists from the drafting of the terms of reference of the independent review he talked about. That was a fundamental mistake on his part and I believe he should apologise for it.

The families and their advocates do not have confidence in the HSE's external review. The HSE and Children's Health Ireland need to be many steps removed from this review process, yet families were excluded from devising the terms of reference. It is essential, first of all, the Minister accepts that fact. I welcome some of those families and representatives of advocate groups to the Public Gallery today. They have been campaigning for years about the growing crisis in paediatric orthopaedic services. As we know, this has come to a head in recent weeks with the suspension of surgical procedures in Temple Street and Cappagh.

This crisis goes far beyond just the surgical procedures in question. The failure of the State to properly care for and meet the needs of these children includes pre and aftercare, follow-up care, and extremely long waiting lists which allow conditions to get worse and further complications to arise. I do not use the word "failure" lightly but the Minister has to accept the State has failed those children and their families. The acceptance of failure of an unfit system should be the Minister's and our starting point. The exclusion of patient advocates from the drafting of the terms of reference of the independent review is a sad indication that this fundamental failure has not been accepted.

I am deeply disappointed by the Minister's response and the response of the Taoiseach. I welcome that he now says he will meet advocate groups and parents. I acknowledge that the Taoiseach confirmed in the Chamber earlier today he will meet families and advocate groups as well. That should have happened much earlier. I think, in the Minister's heart, he knows that.

The Minister said in his opening statement today that the first he and his Department became aware of this was in November 2022, if I am reading the statement right. He travelled to the US. Did he know this scandal was going to break before he travelled? Did he make any effort to ensure the wider group of families and patient advocacy organisations were kept in the loop and informed as the situation developed? Did he meet any of the families who were directly affected? Has he heard their experience and listened to them? It would seem the answer to that question is "No" when it is considered that the Minister has certainly not met the advocate groups. As I said, he did not ensure they were involved in the drafting of the terms of reference.

There is a way forward, which is for the Minister to sit down with the families and their advocates, and work out terms of reference which would be acceptable to them. There is no other way. There is no shortcut. The Minister has to meet them and they have to be assured so they can have the comfort and knowledge that this review is truly independent. That is the only way, in my view, we can restore confidence in Children's Health Ireland and the services it offers. That cannot be done without a serious review of the totality of failings, from pre-care to aftercare and everything in between.

The Minister said earlier that while he accepts additional capacity has been put in the system, the waiting lists have not decreased. Is that not what the Minister said? Yet in August this year, a few short weeks ago, he tweeted about a reduction in wait times in Temple Street. He boasted about it and said that wait times have reduced by 51%. Which is it?Was the Minister wrong in August when he tweeted or is he wrong today? I think he needs to be clear with people about where we are in all these situations.

A number of reports have still not been published in full. What we have is a summary of the internal and external reviews which were carried out. I know the advocate groups I met over recent days and again today were part of the Boston review. The summary does not contain any of the issues they raised. The Minister needs to publish the Boston review in full. We are sitting here today having statements with the Minister. We still do not have those full reports.

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