Máire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, to the House. I am delighted the Minister is going to the Government tomorrow about the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill which he put on the agenda yesterday. Perhaps the Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2018 will give an impetus to the patient safety legislation. Before he left, the Minister rounded off a very decent and in-depth proposal for this patient safety legislation by saying, "I am confident that this patient safety Bill in conjunction with the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act 2017 is the correct approach." I agree with him and I think it would be even more correct when this House passes the amendment to it to include mandatory disclosures. We need to be seen to act.

In fairness the HSE acted quite fast but it took us a long time to get there. We need to be seen to be taking this issue seriously. I commend the Minister on the patient safety legislation, but I believe we now need to insert the word "mandatory" into the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act. We realise that it needs a great deal of work and we are willing to work in conjunction with both Bills together.

The Minister ended his contribution by saying, "I am confident that this patient safety Bill in conjunction with the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act is the correct approach." However, mandatory reporting must be put in the Statute Book tonight.