Coalition confident motion on Harney will be defeated

The Government expects to confidently defeat a Labour Party-sponsored motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health, Mary…

The Government expects to confidently defeat a Labour Party-sponsored motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, following a weekend when dozens of women faced an anxious time over breast cancer tests.

Defending Ms Harney last night, the Taoiseach's spokesman said: "There is no question of Mary Harney being left out there on her own. No question of that."

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has refused to say how many of the 568 women who underwent breast ultrasounds at Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise will need surgical review.

A report by radiologist Anne O'Doherty into the handling of mammograms at the hospital is already with the HSE, although the body said it does not yet have a final version.

READ MORE

Fine Gael and Labour last night said they would want to see the document before Wednesday's Dáil vote. However, HSE executives have already privately raised questions over whether the report can be published without first being cleared legally.

In anticipation of this, Fine Gael TD James Reilly said the party would insist that it had the same access to the findings as that enjoyed by the Government.

The Cabinet will tomorrow approve a counter-motion to the Labour challenge which will point to improvements expected in cancer care over the next two years.

Despite the public anger, the Government, supported by Fianna Fáil, five Greens, two PDs and four Independents, enjoys a comfortable Dáil majority. So far none of the Independents have emerged to support Ms Harney.

Dublin North Central TD Finian McGrath said he "honestly could not answer" how he would vote on the motion, but few expect him to desert the Government.

His Kerry South counterpart, Jackie Healy-Rae, said he would make his mind up when he went to the Dáil on Tuesday. "They're getting paid enough, and they're there long enough to sort things out," he told The Irish Times.

Michael Lowry, who was abroad yesterday, and Beverley Flynn did not return telephone calls.

However, Fianna Fáil deputies are shaken following sharp public reaction to the trauma suffered by women in the midlands who went for breast cancer checks. Poll findings show that Fianna Fáil is the party that is being blamed for the crisis.

Meanwhile, the consultant who investigated the women's ultrasound records reported over recent weeks that some of them needed to meet cancer surgeons, it has emerged. Portlaoise-based Peter Naughten was commissioned by HSE officials in the midlands in September to review the case notes of the patients who had undergone ultrasound procedures.

He presented the HSE local office with details of his findings on a regular basis as he went along.

However, Ms Harney and HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm have both said they were unaware until last week that such a study had been under way.

Acknowledging that the HSE faced serious questions about its administration competence, Minister for Community Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív insisted that the primary issue in Portlaoise was the quality of medical care offered to the women in the first place. "We should not have had to revisit these [the cases in Portlaoise]. Because in the first place we have to set up a system that if you go and get the various tests that the answer is definitive," Mr Ó Cuív said.

Minister of State for Trade John McGuinness, speaking on Saturday, was scathing about "scandalous restrictive practices" in hospitals. "It is not the Minister's head that should roll; it is the heads of the responsible, well-paid people within the HSE."