James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)

It undermines and belittles the tens of thousands of nurses, doctors, healthcare assistants and people who are engaging in the health system every single day. This is a very challenging time for CHI. The issues that have arisen are serious. This is a scary moment for parents who are affected and have children who have been affected. However, that does not support a statement that says the entire health system is not to be trusted. The Deputy should consider that remark because it is not fair or supported by evidence and should not be said in that sweeping way.

This is a serious issue. On Thursday, the current CEO appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts and acknowledged and apologised to those affected by the HIQA report. She acknowledged and apologised to those who were facing the distress of having received letters arising from the audit. She also apologised to and acknowledged the families - I believe there are 35 - who were affected by the Nayagam report.

It appears following the revelations in The Sunday Times that the new CEO, who was not the CEO when any of this happened, may have to issue apologies in the future regarding children who might not have received the services to which they are entitled, which the Minister and the CEO of the HSE have acknowledged and expressed with some alarm. It was against that background that I wrote to the Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts on Monday seeking to recall the chief executive of CHI to appear before the committee at the earliest possible opportunity. It is clear that serious matters of public concern were not disclosed during the appearance of CHI before the committee last Thursday. The Sunday Times reports that an internal investigation conducted by CHI in 2021 identified the misuse of the NTPF by a consultant, resulting in treatment delays of up to three years for children in need of urgent care. As we know, this investigation was not brought to the attention of the Department of Health, the Committee of Public Accounts or any other relevant Oireachtas committee. It has to be said that is a glaring failure in governance, transparency and accountability.

According to the report in The Sunday Times, patients were selected by the NTPF-funded clinics not based on clinical urgency or time spent waiting, but on non-transparent criteria. Meanwhile, other children with more urgent needs were left waiting. We do not know at this moment in time who those children were, but the parents of those children and the children themselves are also deserving of an apology and perhaps more, depending on what all of the subsequent reviews reveal.

Further accountability is needed in the immediate term on the part of the current CEO, who has to account for things that took place prior to her reign. That is notwithstanding the fact that the former CEO is still a strategic director in CHI, albeit the HIQA report made clear in its findings in respect of governance that there were no specific itemised challenges made against her. For the benefit of the Committee of Public Accounts, it would be beneficial helpful to have the current and former CEOs appear before it. That is something I will raise at Thursday's meeting.

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