Maura Hopkins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, who has had to leave, and the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, to the House to discuss an issue which has involved many women right across the country. The real concern is that it may involve many more who we do not know of yet.

This is a very difficult time for many women and their families. Many Senators and Deputies have spoken this week of the huge courage and unwavering determination of Vicky Phelan. I imagine that it is difficult enough for one to deal with a diagnosis of cancer, never mind then finding out that information pertinent to one was withheld and, not alone that, but then having to fight against the State Claims Agency for truth and justice. The way these women have been treated is absolutely horrific and disgraceful. We expect better. We should never have to go through a week such as this in which we have heard of so many cases of women being treated totally disgracefully.

I just want to say a few things because we all want to be constructive. The Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, and the Government, along with Opposition parties and Independent Members, have worked very hard to ensure that solutions are put in place. It is very important that we establish the facts and I hope the scoping inquiry will lead us to that place. It is absolutely incredible that facts which were obviously available were not made known to the Minister until minutes before he went into the Dáil. That is absolutely incredible. We need to ensure a culture of accountability. I worked in St. James's Hospital for eight years. I was accountable for the people whom I assessed, treated and discharged. Everybody working in the health service needs to be accountable for all of their actions. We are clearly not seeing this. We need to make sure that this never happens again. We have wronged many women. We need to put it right. We need to ensure that we never see a situation in which information pertinent to individuals is withheld from them.

I listened to much of the debate at the Joint Committee on Health yesterday. Since becoming a Senator I have had many concerns about HSE management. The Minister of State will be aware of this as I have raised it as Commencement matters on several occasions. HSE management needs to be accountable.Until people acting as managers are held to account I do not believe we will see real change, and real change needs to happen.