Parents 'sick with worry' due to lack of transparency around hip surgery scandal

Opposition TDs call out 'excruciating absence of information'

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald accused the Government of dodging questions and called on the Taoiseach to immediately state how many letters have been sent to families regarding operations. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Parents are "sick with worry" while they await clarity from the Government about how many children underwent unnecessary hip operations, the Dáil has heard.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald accused the Government of dodging questions and called on the Taoiseach to immediately state how many letters have been sent to families regarding operations carried out as far back as 2010.

Ms McDonald said Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris have refused to respond to questions on the scandal leaving parents "stonewalled" by both the Government and Children's Health Ireland.

Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill had said the letters were issued to provide reassurance to parents regarding the current audit into hip dysplasia procedures but Ms McDonald said the letters have had the opposite effect.

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín also hit out at the "excruciating absence of information" available to parents. He said: 

The questions they want answers to include how this happened and how hospitals could carry out a particular operation at a rate five to 10 times higher than the population of the country needed and no one picked up on it.

Mr Martin acknowledged the concerns parents have but said it would be wrong to drip feed information before the audit, which he said is at an advanced stage, could be published.

He said it was found to be necessary to communicate with parents following media reports of a draft audit report.

"I cannot draw conclusions until I see the final report," Mr Martin said. "The implications are disturbing, if indeed some of the assertions come home to be the case, in other words if they emerge to be truthful."