Shatter: HSE ‘transparency’ laws poorly thought out

LAWS intended to make the HSE more transparent were branded rushed and inadequate last night.

Fine Gael children’s spokesperson Alan Shatter rounded on legislation to force the HSE to hand over information to a probe investigating the deaths of children in care as badly thought out.

As well as allowing care bosses to give files to a review group looking at the deaths of 188 children who were involved with social services over the past decade, the Health Amendment Bill sets out how future investigations will operate.

Mr Shatter complained that under the new law the HSE will deal with the minister and not the official probe, the Government will then release the investigation reports rather than the inquiry body doing so itself.

Mr Shatter said it was wrong for some information relating to the death of a child in state care could still only be released at the discretion of the minister.

“The information is at the discretion of the minister and there is no guarantee over what time frame reports will be published in,” Mr Shatter said.

However, Children’s Minister Barry Andrews dismissed the concerns saying the new system had been put together quickly but was “well crafted” and would usher in a new era of transparency. “This is a major step forward, we are creating a safe channel of information – it’s all about transparency,” he said.

The change in the law comes after the HSE came in for heavy criticism when it emerged it was not passing on information to a Government appointed probe into the deaths of youngsters in state care.

Opposition parties complained that the Health Amendment Bill had been “rushed” through the Dáil as its proposals had only been made public last week.