Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party) | Oireachtas source

A wrong that has been done to a child is a wrong we should all be ashamed of. Today, we gather in the shadow of not one scandal but a series of failures that stretch across the institution entrusted with the care of our youngest and most vulnerable children's health. First, there was the horror of the Temple Street spinal surgery scandal, where children already burdened with illness were subject to surgeries that raised grievous concerns. How many were left with more suffering than healing? Where was the oversight? Where was the compassion? Then came the flood of revelations about the systematic governance failures and the collapse of responsibility at every level, with reports hidden, families kept in the dark and decisions made behind closed doors. Is this the Ireland that we are proud to leave to the next generation?

We hear calls from across the Dáil and from broken-hearted parents for the board to resign and for an independent investigation. Let me be clear: an investigation is not a favour to the people; it is a duty owed to them. Anything less is an insult to every family that trusted the system with their child.

We are told surgeries have been cancelled because of resource constraints and children were lying in pain because budgets could not stretch far enough, while management salaries soared and new hospital projects blew through every promised deadline and cost ceiling. What of the new children's hospital, the project that was meant to be a beacon of hope? It now stands as a monument to waste, delay and mismanagement, with billions spent, years lost and trust the greatest loss of all.

It is not enough to wring our hands and draft more reports. It is not enough to trade blame across these benches like farmers swapping cattle at a mart. We must act and act decisively. We must have a full independent public inquiry with no half-measures, no internal reviews and no political shielding. Every family affected must have the truth in plain language, not buried under legal jargon and committee findings. We must reform the very bones of our healthcare governance, replace opacity with transparency, replace political appointments with merit and integrity, and restore the sacred trust between patient and care and between family and State.

Independent Ireland believes in a healthcare system where no child waits in agony for cancer surgery, where no parent has to learn from a newspaper that their child's care was compromised and where promises made are promises kept. We must rise now to meet this moment.

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