Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)

Last week, Children's Health Ireland confirmed just 105 appointments have been offered so far to the children potentially affected by the scandal of unnecessary hip surgeries. Only 60 people have been seen so far out of a total of 2,259 children who had hip surgery since 2010 at Children's Health Ireland or the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Cappagh. At this rate it will take more than 20 years for every child to be assessed.

To make matters worse, CHI has also confirmed that it is only conducting a once-off review to assess complications only and determine current clinical state. That means it will not provide answers to the 2,259 families on the question of whether their child's surgery was necessary in the first place. It will not provide answers to the question of whether those children were harmed or wronged by malpractice. There will be no transparency, no honesty and no accountability. Will the Government ensure that Children's Health Ireland gets to the real facts for these children and tells them straight whether their surgery was necessary?

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