Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

It is absolutely phenomenal that we have two separate unpublished reports into two separate scandals involving CHI at the moment yet, despite that, the Government is still backing the board of CHI. We know that in one case children were subjected to unnecessary surgeries, where they did not meet the threshold for surgery. Separately, we know that poorly sourced springs or coils made from corrosive material were implanted into the spines of children, which significantly damaged these children. It is an incredible situation that the Government is standing strong behind CHI in this situation. A whistleblower made a protected disclosure to the Department in September 2023. There are key questions around that. We need to know whether the surgeries continued after that whistleblower made that information known to the former Minister.

When he was very young, my second eldest son had a procedure in a hospital that necessitated going under an anaesthetic. It was not as severe as any of the cases we are speaking to. It was ten years ago, but I still remember the fear on his face as I left that room. I still remember the difficulty I had in leaving that room and my son behind in that particular situation. If I found out afterwards that the procedure did not have to happen, that the procedure was actually doing damage to my son and was causing pain or discomfort or necessitated extra surgery on the back of that, I would be enraged, furious and disgusted at the system. Any parent in a similar situation would be in exactly the same situation. Yet, that is exactly what is happening here.

There are significant problems with CHI. We have raised these issues many times in the Dáil. A level of gaslighting is happening in respect of the HSE, CHI and the Department. Looking at CHI and who is on its board, we see businesspeople more than medical experts. One is a former HR director at Brown Thomas. Another is a business consultant, another is a lawyer, another is a former Secretary General of the Department of Education and so on. The reality is they have failed children. They are refusing to answer questions in the media. We believe they should resign.

In 2023, a clinical lead from CHI was asked questions about intensive care beds in the new children's hospital. Many operations for children are being cancelled at the moment for the lack of intensive care beds. That clinical lead admitted that the intensive care beds in their entirety would not be open until long after the hospital is opened at the new campus. However, that person said there will be a balcony where nurses can have their lunches, there will be Wi-Fi, there will be plugs and that these are must-haves in a national children's hospital. I say that intensive care beds are must-haves when it comes to a national children's hospital. Another example of the gaslighting of parents is we are told that the national children's hospital will not open until 2026. The excuse from the Department is it is too risky to move these children through the winter months. How do hospitals in cold-climate countries do such a thing? This can be done.

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