Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-02-12 ============================================================ Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for raising this very important issue. I will begin where he began by absolutely acknowledging that the priority in all of our discussions, and I know this is something we all share a view on, must be, is and must remain the children and their parents. Deputy O'Callaghan did not do so, but it is often easy to talk about reports and everything else in this House. We are talking about children and worried parents, and they should be our priority. I agree with Deputy O'Callaghan on that. I heard the Deputy's party colleague Deputy Rice on the radio this morning. Deputy Rice does a very good job chairing the Oireachtas health committee. I assure him and Deputy O'Callaghan that the Government wants to see as much information as possible published, and certainly shared with parents. The Government wants as much information as is absolutely legally possible to be made available to a statutory inquiry. I genuinely and sincerely mean that. In fairness to my colleague the Minister for Health, I know this is her position. The Minister has been engaging with the Attorney General in respect of this matter. I am very conscious and careful, even though we are in the Dáil, of the fact that phase 1 of the report relates to the clinical practice of an individual consultant. I am also very aware of processes that may be under way legally. I am also very aware of processes that may or may not get under way in future. We need to be very careful in relation to this. Phase 1 of the report is specifically a risk assessment of the practice of an individual consultant. I do not want to say anything, and nor does anyone else, that cuts across this. However, I can inform the House that the Minister absolutely wants to be in a position to share this information. There is no reason in the wide earthly world why she would not want that. This is an important step to try to fix a very serious issue and, ultimately, to try to rebuild trust and confidence in children's healthcare and CHI. I want to make a point regarding the children. The words of Dr. Colin Henry, the top doctor in the HSE, the chief clinical officer, yesterday are important. These are his words and not mine. He stated that while "these are not clinically urgent, but nevertheless, in the interest of peace of mind and assuredness to families, this exercise needs to be carried out quickly in the coming weeks." The latter refers to follow-up appointments. We need to make sure that this happens in an expeditious manner and in a manner that puts children at the centre of the process. Specifically in relation to the statutory inquiry, the Minister spoke to this matter at the Oireachtas committee yesterday. She wrote in December to communicate her intention to appoint someone. Although I do not have the letter, I believe she also identified the person she was hoping to appoint. There has been an exchange of correspondence and information in the interim. She certainly has identified the person. She wanted to find a person of substance and high calibre who will also be available to do the work. That person has been identified and I believe the appointment is imminent. The scoping exercise needs to take place as quickly as possible. I fully understand the urgency of it. I also understand from my engagement with parents that it is both urgent and a matter of getting it right. I really hope that in the coming very brief period we can see this move forward. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-12/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:56+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-12