CervicalCheck tribunal and patient safety bills
Micheál Martin asks when the tribunal Bill will be finalised and whether it will pass before the summer recess. The Taoiseach says the tribunal legislation is being prioritised and should be enacted before recess, with patient safety legislation to follow later.
It is over a year since the CervicalCheck scandal was made public following the case that Vicky Phelan took to the High Court. Two significant commitments were given by the Government at the time - to set up a CervicalCheck tribunal and to introduce a patient safety Bill that would provide for mandatory open disclosure. The general scheme of the tribunal Bill was published this month, but when can the Dáil expect the Bill proper to be finalised, completed and debated in the Dáil? Is it the intention of the Government that it would be completed and passed before the summer recess? In terms of the patient safety Bill, heads were approved last July. Will the Taoiseach confirm whether the Bill will be before the Dáil ahead of the summer recess?
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy. On the legislation to establish the tribunal as recommended by Mr. Justice Meenan, I have asked the Attorney General and the Minister for Health to prioritise that legislation over all other health legislation. The heads have been published and we anticipate that we will have that Bill in the House before the summer recess and, with the co-operation of this House and the other House, enacted before the summer recess. Since that Bill is being given priority over all other health legislation, it is likely that the patient safety legislation will then come in during the next session in the autumn.