[ad_1]
The main official of the Department of Health personally called the director of RTÉ shortly before the station transmitted to the complainant that he claimed that his department was secretly collecting confidential information about children with special needs who sued the State.
Deputy Secretary General Robert Watt is understood to have expressed concern to RTÉ CEO Dee Forbes on Thursday that the material he relied on for the report was provided in violation of the Official Secrets Act.
RTÉ went ahead with the broadcast that night.
Yesterday’s accusations led Taoiseach Micheál Martin to order the creation of a multidisciplinary team to consider the issues raised.
A spokesperson for RTÉ said it had no comment on the conversation. Watt did not respond to a request for comment from the Irish independent through the press office of the department.
Shane Corr, a department official, went public after discovering that the department had collected confidential medical and educational information about children with special needs who took legal action to obtain appropriate educational supports.
According to the complainant, sensitive information about his siblings and parents was collected as part of a strategy to defend the claims. This was said to have been done in more than 40 inactive cases involving children with autism.
A sample letter stated that the department was seeking updates from medical, psychiatrist and social worker services on the children and their families.
It was said that he had explicitly stated that neither the plaintiffs nor their lawyers should be contacted about the request.
After Corr made a protected disclosure last year, the department commissioned a senior attorney to review the matter.
According to the department, the lead attorney found the practice to be completely legal, adequate and appropriate. No breaches of the Data Protection Laws were identified and the review did not recommend any changes in the department’s approach.
The Data Protection Commissioner is investigating the matter and has provided a list of questions to the department. The Medical Council said it was “very concerned” about some of the allegations.
Officials from the Department of Health will be asked to appear before an Oireachtas Health Committee to answer questions. Watt is expected to be among the officials. The committee is also seeking to make the lead counsel’s report available.
The department did not respond to inquiries asking whether it would publish the report or the terms of reference for it.
It also did not respond to questions about the degree of knowledge that the minister and junior ministers had about the practice detailed by the complainant.
In an open letter on the department’s website, Watt said the department had never unlawfully withheld confidential medical and educational information from children involved in inactive court cases.
“The Minister of Health is regularly appointed in litigation, and one of the functions of the Department of Health is to handle cases effectively on behalf of the State, which sometimes includes the review of sensitive information to resolve or defend a case.” , He said. saying.
He said the department’s overall mission was to improve the health and well-being of people and protect the most vulnerable in society.
“We take the allegations very seriously and the Taoiseach announced today that a multidisciplinary team will now be formed to consider the issues raised with the goal of fully understanding what happened here,” Watt said.
Irish independent
[ad_2]