Results 4,861-4,880 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Data Protection Bill 2018 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I want to come back to the digital age of consent of 16 years. I have a great deal of respect for Deputy Daly as a parliamentarian but she has scurrilously discredited one of the people arguing for a digital age of consent of 16 years in her contribution. She said everyone agreed with her. Then, she presented one substantive argument to the effect that people who are 13, 14 or 15 years of...

Data Protection Bill 2018 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Then you were not listening carefully enough.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the witnesses for coming here today. I wish Mr. Connaghan the very best of luck in his role. I would like to make a point to Mr. Breslin, as head of the Department, and Mr. Connaghan, as the interim director general for the HSE. Over the past two weeks this committee spent about eight hours with various senior representatives from the Department, HSE and CervicalCheck and we asked...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Sorry, 2016. I thank the Chairman. I want to put on the record that that information should have been disclosed. Whether any of us asked the right question exactly, in the spirit of open disclosure and an investigation into open disclosure it was very disappointing that the information was not released. Yesterday we received an entire folder worth of correspondence from that time. Who...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: A risk was identified and communicated to the Department that there was the potential for a future loss of confidence in the programme due to media coverage. Is that not exactly the sort of thing which should be escalated to a Minister?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Just to be clear on that, Mr. Breslin does not believe the fact that a risk was flagged with the Department to the effect that there was the potential for a future undermining of this programme because of negative media coverage is the sort of warning that should be escalated to a Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I understand what the programme is for. I am asking Mr. Breslin whether he believes the Department being told the HSE is going to do something which risks leading to a loss of confidence in the programme because of media and public reaction is not sort of warning that should be escalated to politicians.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: With the greatest of respect, Mr. Breslin is not answering the question. I understand it is inherent in a screening programme. I am going to ask him the question for the fourth time. The Department was told by the HSE that CervicalCheck was about to do something which could lead to a loss of confidence in the programme due to media coverage and the public reaction. That is exactly what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I am sorry to cut across Mr. Breslin, but I am conscious of time. With the greatest of respect, that is not what happened. This was not business as usual. The HSE decided, correctly, to do an audit which was international best practice. It also decided, correctly, that it was going to communicate the results of those audits to the clinicians. I understand at the time CervicalCheck...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the witness. I will move to the legal advice. One of the documents indicates that one of the cytology laboratory providers has sought legal advice with regard to the rights of the programme to communicate audit outcomes and the programme is liaising with the legal team on this. The legal team is reviewing the content of case reports. Did the Department take legal advice on this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Mr. Breslin stated earlier, "I believe a reasonable approach was taken by the Department at the time based upon the information available to it." The Department was told an audit was taking place, it was positive and it was international best practice. The Department was told the clinicians were being told, which was also positive and good practice. The Department was also told that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: The HSE flagged there would be limited or conditional disclosure. If I understand those comments correctly, Dr. Holohan has indicated his support for that. He has given incidents where non-disclosure might be okay. I want to be very clear on this. Is it the Department's view, based on Dr. Holohan's comments, that CervicalCheck, in putting conditions around open disclosure, acted correctly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I am asking the opinion of the witness. We do not need the Scally process to determine his opinion, which is what I asked for.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: This is important. I know I am cutting across Dr. Holohan but the question I am asking does not require the Scally investigation. The question was whether Dr. Holohan was essentially comfortable or okay with the fact that the HSE was letting the Department know it was putting conditions around disclosure. The response explained when conditionality might be okay. The question is now...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: The question was whether Dr. Holohan believes it was complying with the open disclosure policy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Was the information given to Dr. Holohan in terms of the opt-out in compliance with the open disclosure policy?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Does the witness believe the approach that CervicalCheck told him it was taking was in compliance with the HSE's open disclosure policy?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: This is important and I will read it again. It states that while CervicalCheck "supports the principles of open disclosure, it is recognised that there are limitations to its universal implementation, particularly for screening services where there is an inherent recognised error rate" and so forth. In its defence, CervicalCheck told the Department in 2016 that its approach to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Thank you for allowing me the time, Chairman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Discussion (16 May 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Thank you, Chairman. I want to go back to where the non-disclosure process failed, that is to say, between the consultants and their patients. Mr. Breslin said earlier that the general issues in the 2006 documentation covered the fact that there was going to be disclosure to patients and this could lead to risks and so forth. None of that was escalated to Mr. Breslin or the Minister. My...