Shane Ross (Independent)

I see why Members on this side of the House want an urgent debate on what happened in Tallaght Hospital. That is important and it would be very useful if we had one. However, what Senator O'Toole said is correct that the knee-jerk reaction of some politicians when something happens in a vast Department like the Department of Health and Children of calling for the resignation of the Minister for Health and Children is absurd. It would be sensible for her to come to the House when she returns from New Zealand to explain what happened because a very tragic situation has arisen in Tallaght Hospital.

Undoubtedly, there should be accountability but I deplore the fact that politicians - we are all guilty of it - constantly lose sight of the fact the people who matter are the patients. It is not really time for bloodlust and to call for the resignation of the Minister simply because something happened in her Department for which she is not directly responsible. It is not reasonable to expect her to police every corridor, every X-ray machine or every hospital every day. It is reasonable to expect her to come to the House to tell us what happened, why it happened and what will be done to ensure it does not happen again.

Some time ago a similarly absurd reaction came from the Opposition when the Taoiseach was found to have held €400 worth of shares in Conroy Petroleum. There were screams for his resignation because he had some vague and indirect involvement in mining in the Ministry he held at the time. We must be very careful when something happens that we do not blame a Minister for something for which he or she is quite obviously not directly responsible. We should demand that the Minister for Health and Children comes into the House if we need an explanation but it is a pity to constantly demand resignations because it devalues calls made in reasonable and justifiable circumstances.