Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Following on from the previous speaker, the death of Savita is a very tragic situation but there must be some compromise in establishing the inquiry to find out what went wrong. The present debate will not bring about the necessary investigation. In fairness to everyone, there must be compromise by all involved to ensure we establish a proper inquiry team. The chairman appointed has a great deal of experience. He was involved in the inquiry in Northwick Park Hospital where ten maternal deaths occurred in a short period of time. Yesterday I spoke to someone in the UK, and there it is normal for such an inquiry to include local input to ensure the inquiry team is made fully aware of the practices and procedures normally followed in the hospital facility involved. This is why the three people were initially included.

The Minister has agreed to review this and to bring in people other than the three from the hospital itself, which is welcome in view of the family's concerns. However, it is important that a compromise is reached at the earliest possible stage so that as soon as possible the inquiry is held, the facts on what went wrong in the management of the patient are made available to the family, and we ensure it does not occur again. We could still be debating this next year, so all parties need to come up with a compromise solution as soon as possible so the investigation can be carried out and the matter can be brought to a conclusion.