Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said that any inquiry into Children’s Health Ireland should focus on the children and families affected, rather than only on systems and waiting lists.

The call follows the publication of a report by Remy Farrell SC examining the health body, which oversees paediatric services in the Republic of Ireland.

McDonald said the priority must be to deliver answers for children and families and to examine what happened to children, not simply what went wrong with systems and waiting lists.

She said Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane has been engaging closely with affected families and advocacy groups, and the party will continue to listen to them before reaching a final position on the proposed inquiry.

McDonald stated that the issue is first and foremost about children who were failed and families who have been fighting for answers. She said those families have lived with the consequences of delays and failures in care, and that any inquiry must be broad enough to establish the full facts.

The inquiry should examine the impact that delays and failures in care had on children, including whether their conditions deteriorated, whether their treatment options changed, and whether they suffered poorer outcomes as a result, according to McDonald.

She also said there has to be absolute clarity for families whose children suffered the most serious outcomes, including those who lost a child, that their experiences and the circumstances surrounding their care will not fall through gaps in the process.

Sinn Féin will engage directly with families and advocacy groups and continue to be guided by them, McDonald said. The party will examine the report carefully, but its starting point is clear: children and families must be at the heart of the process and any inquiry must be capable of giving them the truth and the answers they have been waiting for.