Press release
Open Letter from Secretary General of the Department of Health, Robert Watt
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
I am writing to you today in relation to allegations made by RTÉ on its Primetime programme that aired last night, Thursday 25 March.
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge with regret the distress that headlines from this programme has generated. I would like to reassure all parents, families and interested parties that the department has never unlawfully held sensitive medical and educational information of children involved in dormant court cases.
The Minister for Health is regularly named in litigation, and one of the duties of the Department of Health is to manage cases effectively on behalf of the state, which sometimes includes review of sensitive information in order to settle or defend a case.
The department’s overall mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Ireland and to protect the most vulnerable in society. Our goal is to provide as many services as possible to as many people who need them. This duty is taken very seriously by everyone who works in the department.
We take the allegations made last night extremely seriously and the Taoiseach has today announced that a multi-disciplinary team will now be formed to consider the issues raised with the aim of understanding fully what happened here.
We will remain in contact with stakeholders and families affected over the coming weeks and provide an update on progress in due course.
Sincerely,
Robert.