Róisín report must be made public

WHILE the privacy of the Ruddle family must be respected, it would be a travesty of justice if the Government was able to cite this as a valid reason for withholding publication of the report on the tragic death of their daughter Róisín.

Little Róisín died in her parents’ arms after being sent home from Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children at Crumlin when a vital heart operation had to be cancelled because of a shortage of specialist intensive care nurses to care for her in the critical post-operative period.

Without in any way intending to transgress the family’s right to privacy, it has to be said that the issue of publication must be judged in the context of the public interest.

While opinions differ on where responsibility lies, the finger of blame is pointing at the domino effect of

Government cutbacks.

On top of the present programme of swingeing cuts, Crumlin has been starved of investment for decades.

This has resulted in an appalling scenario in which a gravely ill child can no longer be guaranteed treatment at Ireland’s premier hospital for sick children.

It would be deplorable if the Government could evade its responsibility by quoting a family’s right to privacy as a pretext to cover up the facts of this shocking case which has frightening implications for every child in the country.

A young life was forfeited for the sake of 1,000 as Government cutbacks made an already deplorable situation at the hospital even worse.

In Ireland’s crisis-ridden health system, life-and-death operations are regularly postponed in hospitals throughout the country.

But the situation at Crumlin has been exacerbated by the current restrictions on staff recruitment, adding to the difficulty of recruiting nurses in the highly specialised intensive care sector.

Owing to cutbacks, for every additional nurse hired, someone had to be let go in another area of the hospital.

Thus, with 45 out of 115 posts vacant, one-third of the hospital’s intensive care beds have effectively been closed.

Built in the 1950s, the facility has been sorely neglected. Parents wishing to stay overnight with sick children have to sleep on the floor.

Vital heart operations are carried out in prefab buildings.

Surgeons and parents are forced to have discussions in corridors.

This is no way to run a hospital, let alone the nation’s main centre for treating sick children.

The sheer neglect speaks volumes about the priorities of politicians and civil servants alike.

If even a small fraction of the hundreds of millions of euro that Fianna Fáil wanted to squander on its national stadium ego trip had been spent at Crumlin, a toddler’s life could have been saved.

According to the support group for families of children with congenital heart disorders, all the circumstances leading to the death of two-year-old Róisín must be published.

A spokesman for Heart Children Ireland said that while the family’s privacy must be respected, all the facts must come out.

Responsibility for the dire situation at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children lies at the Government’s door and especially with Health Minister Micheál Martin, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy.

It is in the public interest and also in the interest of openness, transparency and accountability in Government that the report into all the circumstances leading to Róisín’s untimely death be published without delay.