Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I believe the concerns of the Minister are genuine. I welcome the interaction he has had with all political parties; he is trying to resolve the issue and put solutions in place. I have not had an opportunity to see the letter circulated to GPs; it would be helpful if that could be circulated to everyone.

We have to discuss good governance. I do not believe the HSE has good governance. It has been raised many times in this House in terms of the lack of boards for hospital groups. This has to serve as a wake-up call and be used to ensure there is good governance right across our systems.

A woman stopped me yesterday on Dawson Street to talk about the State Claims Agency. She made me aware of other areas the State Claims Agency is working in, and specifically discussed seven individuals. I am not going to mention them because I have no intention of ambushing the Minister; I will talk to him at a later stage about that issue. This matter is too important; we should not seek political gain from it but rather take it seriously and work to resolve it. I am asking the Minister for an audit of the cases the State Claims Agency is currently involved in. We do not want women such as Vicky Phelan being dragged through courts unnecessarily when a more humane approach is available. That audit of current cases should be done immediately. Once that is done I would like to see an audit of previous cases where the State Claims Agency has sought gagging orders on the result of the case. There may be other cases that we can learn from in which gagging orders were imposed and which have not emerged in the public discourse. If we are going to fix the problems with the HSE we have to know what all those problems are and how citizens are being dealt with by the State Claims Agency. I do not believe that anyone here would stand over the horror story I heard yesterday. If those two pieces of work could be carried out relatively quickly it would be a good service to the citizens of Ireland.