Time for a full review at Children’s Health Ireland – David Cullinane TD
29 April 2025
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health, David Cullinane TD, has said that his party is calling on the government to conduct a full review of hip surgeries at Children’s Health Ireland following the revelations of potentially hundreds of unnecessary surgeries being carried out on children.
The motion is scheduled for debate this evening.
The TD for Waterford said that parents deserve answers and that those responsible must be held accountable, and added that trust can only be rebuilt if there is certainty, clarity, and transparency.
Teachta Cullinane said:
“Potentially hundreds of children have been failed in a serious way by the scandal of unnecessary hip surgeries at Children’s Health Ireland. Parents are in the dark and worried that their children had unnecessary traumatic surgeries.
“The government must provide certainty to all parents of children who have had orthopaedic care at Children’s Health Ireland. There must be an extensive investigation and those responsible for failures must be held to account at an individual, organisational, and political level.
“This scandal could go back a decade or more and happened on the watch of several Ministers for Health. The government has known about this scandal for over a year, yet parents were only told about the audit after the Ditch reported on it. Concerns were hidden from parents until the news broke. That was the wrong way to treat parents.
“These revelations have come at the same time as the completion of HIQA’s investigation into the use of non-medical grade implants in several children, which found severe governance and institutional failures at Children’s Health Ireland.
“These failings cannot be carried over to the new Children’s Hospital. The highest standards must be in place for governance, management, ethics, open disclosure, and communication with families.
“Trust has been shattered and a complete investigation, that brings certainty, clarity, and full transparency, is needed to start rebuilding trust.”
Sinn Féin’s PMB can be read here.
