HSE to hand over details of children who died in care, says Coughlan

THE HSE is to hand over details today about the numbers of children who died in State care in the past decade, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has confirmed.

Ms Coughlan also told the Dáil yesterday that Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews is expected to bring a “memo to Government” at the end of June about the holding of the children’s rights referendum. Government departments are considering its wording and the matter “is progressing as quickly as possible”.

As the Opposition questioned the change of mind by the HSE, Ms Coughlan confirmed the HSE agreed to hand over the figures after a meeting with the Taoiseach, Minister for Health and Minister of State for Health. The HSE claimed it could not collate the figures until the end of June.

She said at the meeting, “the Taoiseach on everyone’s behalf expressed the absolute necessity of the importance and the urgency of that matter; and that information will be made available”.

Later, Joe Behan (Ind, Wicklow) said it was outrageous that only after a contentious meeting with the Taoiseach that the HSE backtracked.

“It begs the question, who governs this country? The Government or the HSE? The Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, or Brendan Drumm?” He called for an end to “this monstrous bureaucratic experiment called the HSE”.

Ms Coughlan had told the Dáil the meeting took place “to follow up on the issues of concern raised by the Government”.

In March, Mr Andrews “wrote to the chairman of the HSE asking for the information required to be made available to him in April. He did not receive correspondence until May”.

The HSE’s agreement to provide the details was “on foot of the letter sent by the Minister of State in March”. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said “confusion is the order of the day – both within government and within the HSE – as has been described by members of your own Oireachtas party, it is now a dysfunctional Frankenstein”.

But Ms Coughlan insisted there was no confusion. When the Minister raised the issue initially, “there was absolutely no view that there was any confusion or issues raised by the HSE at that time. Following the meeting with the Taoiseach yesterday and the senior executives, the HSE is responding to the request for information.” Labour leader Eamon Gilmore asked “where stands the legal objection of the HSE” that they raised against the transfer of information to the independent review group on child deaths. The Tánaiste said the emergency legislation would be introduced in the Dáil by the end of June.