Seanad debates

Tuesday, 7 March 2023

Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Bill 2019: Second Stage

 

12:30 pm

Photo of Martin ConwayMartin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the House with what is one of the most important Bills that we will put through during this term. We have had Covid emergency legislation, and that was important, but this is critically important. That there was agreement to change the name of the Bill to the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Bill was very important because the Title of a Bill does matter. A Title of a Bill should clearly state what the Bill means and what its intentions are. The open disclosure element of the Bill is extremely important.

People have paid the ultimate price because there was not open disclosure. Senator Boyhan is quite right when he says that Vicky Phelan did heroic work but there were many more Vickys and there were many Vickys who did not go public and who paid the ultimate prices as well.

There is one person I want to mention in my contribution here today and that is John Wall. I know the Minister will be very familiar with John Wall. He is a good friend of mine. He is from Clare and he is a very capable and competent advocate. And John Wall has made a difference in terms of this legislation and in the advocacy work he does. He will continue to do advocacy work because he sees it as his duty. I commend all those people and the families of the people who we lost for continuing the battle and ultimately getting this result.

There is one politician I want to acknowledge and it is only fair and right that he is acknowledged, namely, Deputy Kelly, for the outstanding campaigning he has done on this issue working with the families and the late Vicky Phelan and others. Alan Kelly's legacy is in this Bill as well. But so too is the Minister's legacy because he had an open mind. He committed many hours. His officials, his team, his adviser, Susan Mitchell, and others, committed many hours to taking on board the concerns and coming back with solutions to the concerns. The Minister is quite right in saying that it is complex, technical and detailed legislation. That makes it good. What also makes it good is its review clause so that two years from the date of commencement of the Act, the Department will review it in terms of its practicality and whether its operation achieves what we all want. If there are obvious elements that are not working before that 24-month period is up, I would urge that the Minister not hesitate to come back in to amend it. Nobody expects anything to be perfect but an enormous effort has been made in this Bill to get it as near to perfect as possible. It just shows that when there is collaboration and when people work together in an honest endeavour, what you can achieve is enormous. The heavy lifting for this Bill has already been done by everyone in Dáil Éireann.We are coming at it when the heavy lifting has been done. Senator Boyhan has studied the Dáil record. I sat in on many of the contributions at the time, two or three weeks ago. I remember meeting the Minister ahead of going in on the final day and having a quick chat with him. I do not think there is anything we can offer. Maybe some colleagues will spot something, and if they do I would urge the Minister to take it on board. Ten minutes was not enough to give the Minister an opportunity to put the details of the Bill onto the record of the House, but his summation was very accurate and fair.

There is a lesson to be learned when Government opens its mind to engaging with the NGO sector and to people who have lived experience. It is exemplified by what we have here today. The 221+ group and Opposition politicians felt that they were being listened to and engaged with, and their advice taken on board and acted upon. That is what happened towards the end with this legislation. It makes the Oireachtas a place that really can work when the Government has an open mind and the Opposition takes a constructive approach.

It is an excellent Bill. We are setting a gold standard internationally that, hopefully, other countries will follow. It is a testament to the people who are no longer with us, and to their families who live on advocating in their memory, that this legislation is before us today.

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