Families and children have been let down appallingly by Children's Health Ireland, CHI. There has been scandal heaped on scandal, and report after report. Behind all of that are sick children and their families who have been failed by the healthcare system and the State. Children and families are still being failed because promises to act have been broken and long-promised reports remain unpublished. The Nayagam report was commissioned in 2023, two and a half years ago. Families still have not seen it. This is a report into the medical treatment of their children. As campaigner and mother Claire Cahill said on "Morning Ireland", this report belongs to the families and their children, yet they remain in the dark. They only realised the Minister had the report after reading about it in a Sunday newspaper. Families feel like afterthoughts in the whole process. They are being strung along and fed excuses while the system closes ranks on them. Now they are told that the report cannot be published for legal reasons. There is no credible timeline for when those legal issues will be resolved or when a partial version of the report or, even, the recommendations it contains can be published. There have been 12 reports into CHI, just six of which have been published. Using legalities as a shield against transparency cannot continue, particularly when we are speaking about sick children and their healthcare. How can issues at CHI be resolved unless we are clear about everything that has gone on and about the reforms that urgently need to happen? It is more than three months since the Government agreed to hold a statutory public inquiry into spinal care for children with scoliosis and spina bifida, but all we have is a headline. A mediator has not been appointed and work to draft the terms of reference has not even started. Families have again been left in the dark. The original commitment was that the terms of reference would be agreed within 16 weeks. With three weeks left, no mediator has been appointed and no meetings have taken place. There is now little hope that the deadline will be met. That is another broken promise. Nine years ago the Tánaiste promised that no child with scoliosis would wait longer than four months for treatment. He is aware of how much hurt this broken promise has caused. I cannot understand why the Government continues to make promises to families which are not worth the paper they are written on. Families want honesty and transparency. Can the Tánaiste indicate when will phase 1 of the Nayagam report, or even part of it, be published? Does he accept that the Government will miss its own deadline to draft terms of reference for the statutory public inquiry?

Sentiment score: -0.03

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. He is absolutely right that children who have suffered pain are at the heart of this matter. They have been badly let down, and that is what this is absolutely about. They and their families deserve as much information as possible. We have had 12 reports , but only six of these have been published to date. Does the Tánaiste acknowledge that this is not acceptable? Does he acknowledge that for the statutory public inquiry to work, as much information as possible needs to be available to it, including when the terms of reference are agreed in order for the families to engage with the process and not be left in the dark? Does he accept that it is two and a half years since the Nayagam report was commissioned and yet all the families know is what they read about in the Sunday newspapers? They have not had sight of the report, even though it is about their children. They have a right to have sight of it and to as much information as can possibly be made available. The Tánaiste knows that information can be published, even if some of it has to be redacted initially pending further legal advice. When is the Government going to make that information available? When will the terms of reference of the statutory public inquiry actually be agreed? Identifying a mediator is not enough.

Sentiment score: 0.02