David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Part of the problem here is that we have had almost a decade of failure and broken promises, some of which it must be said were political promises, and in more recent times a lack of transparency from Children's Health Ireland. Those very same families the Minister has met, and those parents and advocates she would meet, have been screaming from the rooftops about governance failures at CHI for many years. Many of their children are part of what is called the Dickson report, and I know that CHI has given a reason as to why it feels that report cannot be published. I have said there is absolutely no reason the contents of that report cannot be shared with the families whose children were part of that. There is a reference to what are called "orphan" children, who are children that fell through the cracks and were not getting the appropriate care. They were not under the appropriate consultant, be it a urologist or orthopaedic surgeon, and they simply fell through the cracks. These are children with spina bifida and scoliosis who at the time were waiting for procedures. I believe that trust is at an all time low. Trust is on the floor for many of these parents and there is an awful lot of work to do to repair and restore that trust. This is why I appeal to the Minister to make sure that whatever inquiry is put in place is the most robust it can be to get answers to the questions that need to be answered and, as important, to actually put the services in so that no other child has to wait as long as Harvey, and far too many other children, did.

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