Good morning,
A little under a year ago, Simon Harris took to his feet in the Dáil to take his first session of Leaders’ Questions as Taoiseach. Sinn Féin chose to tackle him on scoliosis, and the unfulfilled promise he made seven years previously that no child with the condition would wait longer than four months for corrective surgery. Harris has argued for years that his intervention gave a jolt to the system that improved outcomes, despite the target being missed - but the accusation that he failed to deliver for these vulnerable children has kept its potency.
On Tuesday, a Hiqa report laid bare the facts about the use of unauthorised springs implanted into three children with the condition at Temple Street, leading in short order to yet more political recriminations and the resignation of the chairman of the Children’s Health Ireland board.
Shauna Bowers examined the five things we learned from the Hiqa report.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the events in the report were “beyond comprehension” while Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said it was a “damning litany of failure, failure of governance, failure of management, abject failure by Government to act and Ministers to do their job”.
Martin, who believes the responsibility lies with the individual clinician involved in the first instance, may be frustrated by such statements - but as with all big crises the buck ultimately stops with the political system. It is not a crisis of the making of the woman Harris appointed to his old job, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. But nonetheless, managing the fallout lands with her. How she deals with families and advocacy groups, and how she addresses the question of the corporate future, governance reform and board-level leadership of CHI will all be in the spotlight. There is also the question of tackling the current list of children awaiting spinal surgeries, and a second report by an outside expert into orthopaedics still to come. She must also find a new CHI chair to lead the board as it prepares to receive the keys to the new €2.2bn national children’s hospital.
It is a proper gauntlet to run, where the political charge of having failed children and their families is guaranteed, and the risk of it sticking is real - she can ask her boss about that.
Tariffs
Meanwhile, the rolling political thunder of the EU-US tariff dispute rumbles on. Harris is in DC today for a meeting with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick (he who has dubbed Ireland his “favourite tax scam”), where the Tánaiste will tell the US that Ireland and the EU are willing to find a solution to the crisis. Keith Duggan has a tee-up to that meeting here.
However, while Harris will urge dialogue, conflict is never far away - as the Government prepares to back a package of EU tariffs in a vote in Brussels today.
Best Reads
Our lead story today by Shauna Bowers on the continued fallout from the Hiqa report is here.
And Shauna has a read taking us into the story here.
The Opposition may find that the shock value - and political utility - of the speaking rights row will quickly wane, writes Siobhán Fenton.
Miriam Lord on a busy day in Leinster House, as spring establishes itself and politicians wished PBP leader Richard Boyd Barrett well in his upcoming cancer treatment.
Michael McDowell on watching Fox News and seeing the rise and destructive impact of Donald Trump.
Playbook
Topical issues kicks off in the Dáil at 9am, followed by a motion from the Independent Technical Group on protecting the Irish economy against trade tariffs. That’s followed at midday by Leaders’ Questions - followed by the notorious Other Members’ Questions slot and Questions on Policy or Legislation.
In the afternoon, there will be Statements on Tariffs, before legislative business in the afternoon and votes in the evening. The Dáil adjourns at 9.30pm.
The full schedule is here.
Commencement matters in the Seanad is at 10.30am, followed by the Order of Business. At lunchtime, there’ll be statements on flooding, while the second stage of a Bill from Labour Senators Laura Harmon and Nessa Cosgrave banning sex for rent will be heard at 3pm, before the Upper House adjourns at 5pm.
Here’s the full schedule.
Outside Leinster House, Tánaiste Simon Harris is meeting with US trade secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington, DC, around teatime Irish time. Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon continues his visit to the United States.
Ministerial outings include Peter Burke in UCD, Dara Calleary in Monaghan, Jim O’Callaghan at the launch of a Children’s Rights Alliance conference in Dublin, and Noel Grealish in Galway.
A cross-party initiative will be announced at a press conference being held by the Irish Neutrality League at 10am, which has the backing of Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and PBP.
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