Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

Is é an príomhrud, agus an rud is tábhachtaí, ná na leanaí a fuair na hobráidí seo, agus na tuismitheoirí go háirithe. Is é príomhaidhm an Rialtais ná tacaíocht agus cabhair a thabhairt do na teaghlaigh éagsúla. Tá mé an-bhuartha ar fad faoin méid atá á shoiléiriú ag an tuarascáil seo a foilsíodh an Aoine seo chaite. Our overriding consideration will be the children upon whom these operations were carried out and their families. That is the number one priority of the Government and, indeed, of the Minister for Health. The findings of the audit are shocking and grave Our first thoughts have to be with the children and their families. In terms of the communications, I will make sure there should not be a limit of one parent being allowed to attend any meeting. In my view, parents, or at least a mother or a father, may require support at such meetings, and that should be readily facilitated.

I make the point that the audit was external. It is unfair to cast aspersions on the Government's motivation and suggest that somehow this could be in-house. The audit was external, conducted by Simon Thomas, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. On the figures, some 60% of procedures in Temple Street were not clinically indicated in accordance with the criteria established by the author. In Cappagh, 79% were not clinically indicated. That is beyond comprehension, but we need to find out why and how it happened. The most immediate priority has to be the follow-up for the families. In that context, individualised letters have been sent out by CHI and Cappagh. An expert reference group, with international input, is developing the criteria against which future multidisciplinary team assessments will be made. That will be in place within the next two months.

In terms of the retrospective review, fundamentally, it has to be external. A separate process involving external experts is being established for this purpose by the HSE.

The Minister has asked the RCSI to assist in bringing together a multidisciplinary external team to examine all cases going back over the period of time in question, which covers about a 15-year period in terms of skeletal maturity and so forth. The Minister for Health is expediting the establishment and engagement of external experts to review these cases, not just surgeons, but radiographers and other disciplines as well. The issues raise the most fundamental concerns about clinical performance itself, clinical governance and overall governance within CHI.

The Deputy referred to other matters in respect of a report published in The Sunday Times. The Minister was notified of this on Saturday afternoon via a media inquiry. She had not been alerted to the existence of that report of an internal inquiry conducted by CHI. That also makes for shocking reading of the most profound kind, which not just goes to the heart of the misuse of NTPF funding but more seriously raises fundamental concerns at that time about safety for children receiving surgery.

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