It is not necessarily in line with 22 October. Regarding the point made by the Deputy, however, great work has been done in this regard to ensure this provision did not have to be used. I will get a detailed note for the Deputy.

Just for clarification, Deputy Griffin is talking to me, as is Deputy Norma Foley.

I am listening very carefully.

We are.

I will start by adding my voice to the words spoken from across the House on the vaccine programme, by giving thanks from Dáil Éireann to the women and men all over Ireland who worked so hard to create this extraordinary success for our nation. It really has been a national effort. The HSE was involved with the Department of Health, the Defence Forces, GPs, the private sector, community pharmacists, volunteers, people coming out of retirement, students, the Order of Malta, St. John's Ambulance and the Civil Defence…

It is imperative always that Members of the House take the opportunity-----

-----to debate this legislation because it is very serious. I will try to address some of the questions Deputies asked. Deputy Ward asked a reasonable question about the mental health provisions. That power is due to expire on 9 November. The Mental Health Commission is not looking for it to be extended and I am not recommending that it be extended. That power will be extinguished on 9 November. Deputy Gould asked a very important question on addiction services. We are on track for lifting restrictions on 22 Octobe…

We are talking about extending a safety net for about 11 weeks on the advice of Chief Medical Officer and I believe all of us will agree that he has advised us well. A reasonable argument has been made by colleagues that if this is needed, Deputies could come back to the House and legislate. I want to take us back to what happened in the week before Christmas last year to show how quickly this can move. It was on the Friday evening in the week before Christmas that the UK Government signalled that it had serious co…

I ask Deputies to consider their position on the proposal. It is a safety net.

It is a safety net lasting for about 11 weeks and it is being done on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer.

If we had another situation, such as the one we had on the Friday evening of the week before Christmas, this would allow us to move quickly. That is all it is. The measure only applies to hospitality and indoor hospitality were it to be invoked. I ask Deputies to reflect on that. If the majority of us were to vote for and support this proposal, it would send another message of political unity. I acknowledge the political unity there has been on vaccines. While it has not been 100% across the House, it has included …

Like many throughout the country, I was deeply concerned by what I saw on Tuesday's "RTÉ Investigates" programme on the disposal of perinatal organs in Cork University Hospital mortuary department. I cannot begin to imagine the hurt that has been caused to the 18 families affected. These families had already been through the unimaginable tragedy of having lost a beloved child and it is unacceptable that their child's organs were disposed of in this way. This simply should not have happened. While it would not be ap…

I am happy to do it now, or would Deputy Gould like me to answer after both Deputies have spoken? I am happy to do it whichever way the Deputies like.

I might start with Deputy Gould. Cork University Hospital and the HSE have stated categorically that they have contacted the 18 families involved and that that was not done now, but last year around mid-May. If that is not the case, I will act immediately. There can be absolutely no question of other families who this may have happened to and who have not been contacted. If that was the case, it would be completely unacceptable. The Deputy might ask the family involved for their contact details and I will follow up…

If they are willing to do that, I will act on it immediately to find out what the situation is. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. I am conscious of the time and that the issue of the reviews may arise in other questions. There are three reviews happening. Two are being run by Cork University Hospital and one is being run by the HSE at my request. The first review is what is called a systems analysis review, the second is called a regional perinatal service requirement review and the third is a review based…

I thank the Deputy for his comments and questions. With regard to the three reviews, the first is a review of what happened and why. I am advised that we will have that around the start of November. On the second review, which is the perinatal review of standards and procedures, we have not been given a concluding time for it, but we are asking the question as to when we might have it. Regarding the system-wide review and whether this happened anywhere else, we expect to receive that from the HSE in approximately t…

I ask the Deputy to repeat her third question.

I thank the Deputy for her questions. She first asked why there were no safeguards in place, but there were and there are. There are very clear standards and protocols in place. The national guidelines are very clear. They say that the only two avenues available are burial and cremation. CUMH's own guidelines go further and state there is one option available, which is burial. What has happened here is that the safeguards, protocols and procedures which are national policy were not followed. The first of the three …

That is correct.

There is a drug that has been approved called Spinraza. I met the parents of a beautiful young boy earlier this week at the Laura Lynn Foundation who told me the drug their son is taking is having a real impact, which is very encouraging. The new drug the Deputy refers to has been raised with me and the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics will be taking a look at it. I fully appreciate that for baby Kate and her parents, time is of the essence.