It could also be that “the implications are disturbing”, he added, amid new claims that the Irish operation rate was five to ten times higher than in other countries.
Micheál Martin was commenting after disclosure of the drafting of an Action Plan that could see thousands of hip dysplasia cases examined.
“No-one is stalling or refusing information,” Mr Martin said, after Sinn Féin accused him of refusing to issue basic information.
Despite a draft audit report having leaked, the Taoiseach said its publication was pending immediately, telling the House that the necessary clinical replies to the draft had now been received.
“The fundamental point is that no-one is ducking and diving, or dodging anything,” he said, saying the independent auditor had to be allowed to formally report.
There was thus “no final timeline” for publication, “but it may be sooner than you think,” he said.
But Peadar Tóibín of Aontú said there was an urgency to make the report public as soon as possible. He added that he had accompanied his own child into an operating theatre for an unrelated procedure.
“I saw the fear in his eyes as I left the theatre. You can imagine the fury of parents who left their children in such circumstances,” he said, if it turned out the surgery was not warranted.
Any operation could have resulted in harm, such as through infection, while giving any child a general anaesthetic was a risk.
He said the rate of operating on children in Ireland was “five to ten times more” than would be indicated in equivalent populations.
Mr Martin said he appreciated that the absence of information could “compound anxiety” for parents. After publication, an action plan would be implemented, he said.
“I can’t draw conclusions until I and the minister [for Health] have the report,” the Taoiseach said. “But the implications are disturbing, if some of the allegations emerge to be the case.”
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – May 13th
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill “has now finally confirmed that parents are receiving measures about operations on children as far back as 2010”.
This was the first confirmation “that this scandal goes back at least 15 years, and not the two-year period previously asserted by Government,” she said.
Parents were at their wits’ end having received letters from Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) regarding operations on their children from 15 years ago, Ms McDonald added.
“Those parents are now asking themselves, was my child operated on unnecessarily? How could this have happened? And what are the consequences now?”
Every time the Government had been questioned on the scandal, it had responded with non-answers, she said.
“You’ve refused to give clarity. Parents have been stonewalled by CHI and stonewalled by your government.
“After weeks of trying to obtain the truth, we have finally in black and white from the Minister for Health confirmation that letters have been issued to parents of children who had operations 15 years ago.”
The 2021-2023 audit recalled 561 children’s cases, she said, asking if the full look-back process could involve thousands of children. Mr Tóibín made the same suggestion.
The letters were about patients not included in the audit sample, “but who may be affected by any findings”, she said, asking the Taoiseach: “Can you explain to me exactly what that means?”
Pádraig Rice of the Social Democrats, who is chairman of the Dáil Health Committee, said the letters suggested that “we are dealing with a scandal of nearly unparallelled proportions”.
The letters suggested “an appalling vista of perhaps thousands of children” having unnecessary surgery, and it indicated that the grave findings of the draft report were being upheld.
The Taoiseach snapped: “Of course we want to reveal the facts, with no holding back.” But he said the report was needed, and to politicise the issue was reprehensible.
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