Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

Children's Health Ireland, CHI, commissioned the audit. This is a very serious issue. It is of very serious concern to both the parents of children and to children who might now be teenagers. The audit is in respect of the period 2021 to 2023 and relates to developmental dysplasia. The decision by CHI to commission an audit was made in order to have an independent look at it and make sure that if there was untoward behaviour or something wrong happened, it would be highlighted and the facts found. It is a mission to find the facts. Government has no objective in hiding anything.

The Deputy uses language which, I understand, from an Opposition perspective, he may want to use. I refer to words such as "insulting" and "staggering". No one is insulting anybody. There is no desire on my behalf or that of anyone in government to insult anybody. It is too serious for that. We are talking about children who have had operations. The least we owe to the parents and families involved is the facts. We need to be independent in how we procure those facts.

I have obviously not seen the final audit or anything but a draft report, apparently, was published. CHI felt parents whose kids had this operation in the past might be concerned, so it wrote a general letter to people going back over a long period. It did that with a view to trying to help to allay anxiety. Now, it is as if the number of those letters is the key answer to something. It is not, actually. The letter is quite general, from what I have seen.

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