Taoiseach defends decision not to hold statutory inquiry into child spinal care

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has defended the proposed commission of investigation into child spinal care, saying it has the same core statutory powers as a tribunal.

The report of a scoping exercise for an inquiry into Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) care for spina bifida and complex scoliosis recommended a commission of investigation rather than a public tribunal of inquiry.

The scoping exercise was conducted by Remy Farrell SC and its report was published on Monday, which was accepted by the Government.

However, it has been criticised by opposition politicians and patient advocacy groups, particularly as it will not be held in public and will examine the period only from January 2019.

Parents and advocacy groups had called for a statutory inquiry into the scandal, which would see a majority of it held in public.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that parents of children affected by the scandal feel they “still haven’t been heard”.

“They are back to square one. Firstly they are angry because the period to be covered by the inquiry will have a starting point of January 1 2019,” she told the Dáil on Wednesday.

“But the failures of children didn’t begin on that date. Indeed, they long predated the establishment of CHI.”

She told the Dáil that the crisis had started before 2017 when former minister for health Simon Harris promised that no child would wait longer than four months for spinal surgery.

“Of course, that promise came to nothing and meant nothing as children continued to suffer,” Ms McDonald added.

“So it is not acceptable that an examination of those early years would be excluded from the inquiry, because it means that people who are now adults, who suffered greatly as children while waiting for treatment before 2019, would be deliberately cut out of that inquiry.

“That’s just wrong.”

Mr Martin said that Mr Farrell carried out a “very comprehensive” piece of work into a scoping inquiry proposal.

He said: “Mr Farrell recommends a commission of investigation, which is statutory, mandatory, has compellability, has all of the core requirements of a statutory inquiry, similar to a statutory public inquiry as per the Act.

“He has defined four modules: waiting lists, vital surgery, hip dysplasia, and the cohort of children who were not transferred to Temple Street post-2008.

“He also recommends that the commission should inquire into whether the management of CHI were aware of the use or intended use of the non-CE marked springs in surgeries undertaken at Temple Street by ‘consultant A’ between 2020 and 2022.

“A commission model can deliver the same core statutory powers as the tribunal, and arguably then better suited to the specific subject matter of the inquiry, namely the medical treatment of children.

“The commission can compel witnesses, can compel the production of documents, and will publish obviously a final report.”

Mr Martin added: “The discretion will be there for the chairperson if issues arise that predate 2019.

“The discretion will be there for the chairperson to go back and look at those issues also.”

Ms McDonald also said that parents are upset that the investigation will not focus on individual circumstances and treatment of affected children.

“Instead, the focus will be exclusively on systemic problems,” she added.

“So the question is, how this inquiry will provide parents with the truth about how their child was failed.

“For this inquiry to have the confidence of parents, it has to be a process that identifies all failures, including individual failures.

“There is also real concern that the majority of the proposed commission of investigation will be held behind closed doors, and of course, some parents will want to give their testimony in private, and that has to be respected and accommodated.

“But remember that many, many parents are done with closed doors.

“They were forced to share their children’s suffering very publicly, so they want to give their testimony in public, and they want the accountability to be public too.”