Yesterday, there was a development on something that has been brought up in this Dáil in recent years. Jessica Sheedy died at 18 years of age in Limerick. She was admitted to hospital on 8 May 2018 for an operation and died on 11 May 2018. A Medical Council fitness to practise inquiry found that three allegations of professional misconduct and ten allegations of poor professional performance made against Dr. Lal were proven beyond doubt. Dr. Lal also accepts other allegations of professional misconduct were proven. I have brought up this issue many times in here. I know Ann and Jimmy personally. I was at their wedding. It has taken eight years to bring this case to where it is today. I thank the present management at University Hospital Limerick for allowing this to happen. I cannot say I have the same respect for the previous management.

I will let the courts deal with what Dr. Lal did to the Sheedy family, to Jessica Sheedy's friends and to the wider community. However, I believe there should now be a criminal investigation into the CEO at the time of this misconduct. There are allegations of tampering with evidence and misleading an independent inquiry by not providing all documentation required for that inquiry to make a decision. There have been two independent inquiries but it is only now that all of the information has come out. It is alleged that staff members were silenced and made to sign non-disclosure agreements to protect Dr. Lal, who has now admitted misconduct. For eight years, people have been put at risk because of a cover-up in the hospital to protect Dr. Lal. That is what we are on about. There has been nothing about the patients who have gone in there. It is a learning hospital. If best practice was followed and something went wrong, you would put your hands up and fix what is wrong because it is a hospital.

It is a learning place. It was shown that there was no proper person doing the operation. They should never have been allowed to do the operation in the first place. By covering it up for eight years, how many people have been seriously injured or have died under that same management? There should be a criminal investigation of the then CEO.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, this shocking situation. I saw it yesterday on the news. It is absolutely unacceptable that a family should lose their daughter in such circumstances. It seems to me that this person should never have proceeded with the operation, should never have been doing the operation. I cannot comprehend how that happened. A benign tumour should have been a straightforward procedure. Then Jessica was taken to intensive care because it was not carried out in an effective manner. We learned that he did not seek the intervention of a vascular surgeon in a sufficiently timely manner - this is in a major hospital in the country - after Jessica suffered a major blood loss during the procedure. There was also a failure to carry out adequate pre-planning for the surgery. That is what the fitness to practise committee heard. The Medical Council has issued its findings. Dr. Lal has been the subject of a number of factual allegations and he has made full admissions. There are very serious issues here. The Medical Council found that each of the allegations had been proven beyond reasonable doubt and each amounted to a serious failing. I think the hearing has been adjourned to Wednesday for the hearing of submissions on a sanction. I do not want to prejudice what may follow here. This has to be examined in the most comprehensive way because questions arise in the light of all of those clinical failings which have resulted in the loss of life of a beautiful young woman. It should never have happened. What flows from that, then, in terms of the broader workings of the hospital? How was a clinician in a position to undertake a surgery of this kind in the manner that was taken? I fully hear what the Deputy is saying. Obviously, different people have to take actions, not at my urging or that of others. They have to be objectively arrived at and pursued. In other cases, disciplinary action was initiated in terms of officials, as the Deputy knows. Again, I am not going to make assertions right here and now. Words are of no use to the Sheedy family.

I thank the Taoiseach. I see that the Minister for Health is here, and the Minister for justice as well, and other Ministers. I am asking for their help. This took eight years and only for her mother Ann, Jimmy, Marcella and all her friends keeping at this and having a medical background themselves, this would have been buried for a lot longer. Only for the current management in UHL, this would have been buried. There has to be accountability of the people who were overseeing the hospital at that time. The problem is that this was buried for eight years. It is a learning hospital. If there was a mistake made, put up your hands and do not put anyone else at risk. There has to be accountability for the then CEO. They were in here in the committee. I have brought it up so many times in the Dáil. We have to make sure justice prevails. To me, they have actually put people's health-----

Thank you, Deputy.

There are no words. Please help and make sure justice is done.

There has to be accountability; the Deputy is correct in saying that. I appreciate what he has said about the current management. I also want to place on record that under the leadership of Bernard Gloster, there has been a welcome change in approach to dealing with situations like this-----

And Sandra Broderick.

-----in terms of apologies being made much more timely. Eight years is far too long when everybody knew what had happened here. The Deputy is absolutely correct. In issues like medical surgeries, people should put their hand up. It should be about evaluating, learning and so on. People should say that was done wrongly. It should not take eight years for a family to get some sense of accountability in terms of what happened here. The objective is to make sure it does not happen again to some other young person or some other patient. That always has to be the objective. I thank the Deputy for raising it.