Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank colleagues for tabling the motion. This is an important issue. It was good to have a wider contextual debate on what went on in CHI earlier. To recap, I take on board what the Minister said during her contribution. I did not get a chance to come back to it during that debate but I will do so now. We need accountable and deliverable movement in the next couple of months due to the fact that this has been going on for so long. I take in good faith what the Minister set out to do, but I hope that will end up happening.

The Minister said it could be anyone standing here, which I take on board. Successive Ministers have had to face what came at them. It is not the job of the Minister to micromanage. Therefore, it is more about what the response is when the information comes out. That is why the Minister has an opportunity on this occasion.

On hip surgeries, in some ways it is slightly different in that specific hospitals seem to have been worse than others. This relates to a fundamental lack of oversight of the individual practitioners and management structures in those particular hospitals. It ties into the wider debate about corporate governance in CHI.

My colleague, also named Paul, mentioned that of the 147 cases the majority related to Cappagh, which has a smaller cohort of operations. A number of cases relate to Temple Street. The fundamental point is that no matter what hospital was involved, parents and children suffered unnecessarily as a result of the opinions that were given. Despite experts telling them that there was not a need for operations, individual practitioners overruled that and said, "Doctor knows best. You have to listen to me." If root-and-branch reform of how these types of operations are managed does not take place in the next couple of months, there will be serious consequences.

The motion mentions what happened prior to 2021. As Deputy Lawless asked, has anything happened since the information came to light in 2023? We need to find that out because we are talking about potentially tens of thousands of surgeries, as the wording of the motion states.

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