Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My understanding is that parliamentary questions were submitted in the Deputy's name in July. The Department of Health was not aware of this at the time and passed on the queries to the HSE. That was how the issue came to light. The allegations were passed on by the Deputy by means of the parliamentary questions. That information was passed on to the HSE. It made inquiries and that was how the information came to light. I do not want to give exact dates because I do not know them for certain and do not want to mislead the Dáil inadvertently.

We will certainly take on board any suggestions that people have in respect of the review. It is important we get it right. If we were to extend the review to deal with all surgery happening at all three sites, it would take a very long time. We are talking appendixes and minor surgery. I am not sure if that is the right approach. This is about spinal surgery and, as far as we know, one surgeon. If we were to expand it out to every surgery done by every surgeon in all three major paediatric hospitals, we would not be coming back here with an answer for years and I am not sure that would be the best approach but of course I am not going to rule it out at this point. Having discussed the issue with the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, yesterday, I have issued an invitation to the advocacy groups to meet us later in the week. There are four and possibly five such groups so it will require some logistical work to get it right. However, I am keen to meet them all together. I am keen to hear what they have to say about the issue and we will take that on board before making any decisions.

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