Two new members appointed to CHI board after resignations
Two new board members have been appointed to the Children's Health Ireland (CHI) board.
It follows the resignations of four members in the past week.
Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has appointed Dr Yvonne Traynor and Dr Anne Carrigy.
Dr Traynor has been a member of the Health Service Executive (HSE) board since June 2019. She was vice president of Regulatory & Scientific Affairs with the Kerry Group.
Dr Carrigy has been a member of the HSE board since March 2021. She is a nurse and joined the HSE as Director of the Serious Incident Management Team and later became National Lead, Acute Hospital Services HSE.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said the appointments would strengthen governance and oversight at CHI.
It comes as Ms Carroll MacNeill announced the resignation of three CHI board members on Tuesday, while another member resigned last week.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Ms Carroll MacNeill said she had made it clear that she had "strong questions about the governance of CHI and its direction towards the future".
"We've had three resignations from the board. These would be individuals who have worked on the board, worked in [a] volunteer capacity on the board since 2018," she added.
The three members are Dr Gavin Lavery, Brigid McManus and Catherine Guy. Mary Cryan also resigned last week.
Ms Carroll MacNeill said she had not asked the members to resign, as she does not have the authority to.
"I have a different relationship with the CHI board in statute than any other minister really has with most other boards. It is an unusual structure, and I don't have the authority to ask people to step down in the way that you normally might expect," she said.
"I want to thank those people for the service that they have given to the public because we recognise that these are voluntary positions, and we are asking people to step out of their other lives to perform a public service in this measure," she added.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it is "absolutely critical" that there is fundamental reform at the CHI, to ensure there is a multi-disciplinary approach across all areas of medicine which it is responsible for.
Speaking in the Dáil, the Taoiseach said there will be an external and independent clinical audit to give assurances to both family and patients.
He said there had to be "accountability", given that recent revelations were "deeply deeply worrying".
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