Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I thank him for having the courage to face this issue. People sometimes accuse me of being nice to Ministers, but it cannot have been easy to go out day after day and take on the responsibility for what has happened. More importantly, during his speech today he told us of being handed last-minute information minutes before going into the Dáil, which is totally unacceptable.

This morning I spoke about our propensity to look for the heads of Ministers when things go wrong, which is politicising what is a corporate failure within the public service. We take out the Minister and we leave the problem behind. I am delighted that Mr. Tony O'Brien wants to stay until July; I think he should go now. He should ring the Minister this evening and say he is leaving because he has not done the country a service and we do not want him. In particular Vicky Phelan does not want him to be here anymore. He should do us all a favour and go.

Before talking further about corporate governance, I wish to deal with an issue that has arisen. Women have rung the helpline 1800-454555 and sought information. A few women contacted me yesterday on this issue. One of the questions asked was about the repeat screening. The women were told that although the Minister had made an announcement, the helpline knew nothing about it. I ask the Minister to look into that because it is something within his power.

I return to corporate governance and will talk about certain things from the past. The anti-D issue affected 100,000 people in the country. Officials who knew about it kept their mouths shut and allowed the situation to develop. The country spent €1 billion settling hepatitis C cases and 80 women died after contracting hepatitis C. Throughout his career a particular Member of the Lower House has taken an unmerciful amount of stick over the Brigid McCole case. Some official somewhere started that case before it ever came to the attention of a Minister.

I spoke this morning about the Carltona principles or doctrine, which effectively means that when a departmental official speaks he or she speaks with the Minister's authority, irrespective of whether the Minister knows or not. This is one of the great things behind which the faceless bureaucrats can hide. They make a decision and when that decision is made it is the Minister's decision - not theirs - and they will never be called upon to answer for that decision save getting fired quietly with a large pension and out the backdoor. That is grossly unfair.

The Minister sits around the Cabinet table; I do not. I ask him to do two things. I ask him to bring about a discussion within the political framework on the impact Carltona is having and has had since the 1940s on decision-making in Government and in politics in particular. Where a senior official takes a decision to commence a particular process, that official should be answerable for it.

Senator Humphreys spoke about the State Claims Agency. Has it learned nothing? It took Mrs. McCole to the point of a Supreme Court threat before settling with her the day before she died. What sort of people do we have in the State Claims Agency? Is there not a process that looks at a claim when it is submitted to see if there is a prima faciecase to be answered and if there is, move it to a different track? Why do we become so aggressive to every poor individual bringing a case forward?

Ms Phelan, who is the centre of attention in the country now, did not want the publicity this has been brought to her house. She does not need it in her current state of health. She forewent the chance of getting more money, I am sure, in order to ensure that women in Ireland knew what was happening.

Journalists and anybody else who claim the Minister for Health can be on top of every single issue and decision every day of the week, are codding themselves. However, there is one thing he should be told about. When a case comes up that is likely to finish up in the courts, he should know about it the moment the Department is informed, not a year later, two years later or when some official decides, "Oh my God, I could get my head on the chopping block for this."There are officials who knew things and, my God, the Minister had to be told when walking in the door of the Dáil that there was more coming. There are officials who knew these things. Political cover is being given to them and it is the Minister's neck on the block. People are looking for his head and that is not right. It is right for those who take decisions to be answerable for them. Like Senator Reilly, I ask for a look back over all the screening which has taken place. I get screened for cancer myself and I would like to know that the screening that has taken place is reliable. I do not expect it to be 100% accurate every time. I expect to be told that there is a certain rate of failure. That is fine. I can live with that if people are being honest with me. I will stand foursquare behind the Minister for as long as I see him doing what he is doing.

I have one last point to make. When the Minister brings political groupings together, I ask him to remember that there are a number of Independent Members in the House and that we would also like to know what is going on.