Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

The independent audit of hip surgeries performed at Children's Health Ireland, CHI, and the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh is damning. It makes for devastating reading for parents and families who are caught up in this scandal. One of those parents, a heartbroken mother, contacted us. Her daughter was just four when she had surgery on both hips. This is mother is convinced, based on her reading of the audit report, that her daughter did not require either operation. Here is what she wrote:

I'm gutted to have let my daughter down. I'm the person who is supposed to protect her. I'll have to live with that. After her operation, I'll never forget what she said to me, 'I didn't ask to come here, Mammy.' She walked into that hospital but had to be carried out. Learn how to walk again. Night after night, for weeks, screaming and crying from muscle spasms. Thank God she is now back to herself, but I have no doubt that she will have those memories for life. I have no words left, only tears.

Some 2,200 letters have been sent to parents. All of them now ask themselves the same question, "Was my child put through the trauma of surgery that wasn't needed?" The Taoiseach had said that the response to this scandal would be to put the children affected and parents first, yet families heard of the publication of the audit through the media and were not provided with copies before it was published. The parents also report that they are being fobbed off by the hotline set up to deal with their queries.

Last night, parents received their first communication from the hospitals since this audit was published. It is a very blunt, insensitive letter inviting their children to attend appointments. Written in bold, it is stated that only one parent can attend. Who do these people think they, are treating distressed parents like that?

At a meeting on Sunday evening, parents expressed anger, naturally, and deep concern about the independence of CHI's review and assessment processes. They ask how the very organisation that presided over this scandal can have any involvement in any review. CHI is mired in scandal and catastrophic governance failures relating to unnecessary hip surgeries on children and unauthorised springs being inserted into children's spines. We also hear that a CHI consultant delayed treatment, referred public patients to his own private clinic and was paid thousands of euro through the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

The failure of the Government to immediately establish and put beyond any doubt the absolute independence of all of the expert panel has led to a real fear among parents that this will be largely dealt with in-house by CHI. There is no excuse for the delay. The Government has been aware of this scandal for an entire year. Its failure to prepare means that parents now face the cruel prospect of waiting months, with stress and worry, before they can find out if their children were operated on unnecessarily. Beidh tuismitheoirí fágtha cúpla mí ag fanacht le fáil amach ar cuireadh a leanbh faoi obráid gan ghá. Is é sin an toradh ar chur chuige mall an Rialtais. The Government needs to get its act together and do right by these families. Can the Taoiseach guarantee that every child who has had these hip surgeries since 2010 will have their case reviewed to determine if the operation was necessary? Crucially, can he assure parents that the expert panel will be entirely independent of CHI?

See this speech in context