Hip operation audit letters
Deputy Tóibín said the Taoiseach had given contradictory explanations about letters sent to parents in the hip operation scandal. The Taoiseach replied that he wanted the audit completed before sharing facts, but Tóibín said the letters were being sent for multiple contradictory reasons.
The Taoiseach is injecting confusion into the hip operation scandal. Yesterday in the Dáil, I asked him about the letters that were sent to parents covering a period as far back as 15 years ago. I asked on what basis those parents were being sent the letters if they were not part of the two-year audit. In his answer, the Taoiseach gave a number of contradictory statements. He said first of all that the letters recalling patients were part of a routine follow-up of appointments. He also said that the letters were because the Department had identified patients not included in the audit but may have been affected by the findings. He said that the letters were sent because the media had reported on the draft audit report. RTÉ is reporting that the letters were sent as a recommendation of an unpublished review. All of these things cannot be true at the same time. Will the Taoiseach correct the record of the Dáil yesterday and state exactly the purpose and the reason these individuals received those letters and give clarity to the parents on this matter?
Comment on this
I have experience. I know what is going on here. The Deputy calls for clarity but what he wants is confusion. What the Deputy wants is to be able to say that it is incoherent, it is drip-drip, it is bit by bit whereas I am asking if we cannot wait for the audit to be completed and given to the Minister, with the Minister to share it with the Oireachtas, the public and, above all, the families that may be affected by this and the general population of those who had the operation. That is simply all I am saying but I am not so sure-----
Comment on this
There are multiple different reasons for these letters being sent out to the parents and they are contradictory.