Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I updated the House earlier. They should be fully in sympathy. I also recognise that whoever is leading the inquiry will need to clarify the terms and make a final decision on what they need to be. I anticipate a comprehensive and transparent inquiry where the terms of reference are developed in partnership. The Government is one piece. The advocates are another piece, as is the person leading from both a legal and a clinical perspective on how that is best done.

I updated the House on some of my thinking about this. I am conscious that I spoke with regard to other forms of inquiry, where the public nature or the particular model of statutory inquiry precludes the information in that inquiry being used for any other purposes. We look in particular at Limerick, where for the first time ever in the health system, there are a number of serious disciplinary proceedings happening there, particularly in relation to the Aoife Johnston case and the circumstances of that.

There was review done by Frank Clarke, which had significant powers. I have spoken with Mr. Justice Clarke since to ask if powers of compellability would have made a difference to him. He was satisfied with the model he had. It is my responsibility to scope out the different models and express the pros and cons of the different models. We will ultimately have to agree the nature of it in partnership, but I am conscious of the need for whoever is leading it to be able to do a good job and have their appropriate powers, the requisite timeframe, support and all of those different things. We just need to work out what model is going to work best for that.

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