Minister for Health Mary Harney today dismissed calls for her resignation saying there was “no question of asking politicians to resign” when medical errors occur in other countries.
Defending her record as minister, Ms Harney said it was “unique to Ireland” for politicians to be blamed for medical errors.
Speaking to RTÉ's News at One, she said Ireland wasalone internationally in holding ministers responsible.
If you look at the UK, where issues like this arise all the time, or other European countries, or indeed in New Zealand where I was recently, there’s no question of laying political responsibility for failures of this kind at the hand of politicians”.
Ms Harney said she felt "privileged and delighted" to have the confidence of the Taoiseach and her colleagues in Government, as shown by being appointed as Minister for Health for a fourth time in the recent Cabinet reshuffle.
“I think most people would accept I work hard, that I’m changing things to improve services for patients,” she added.
She said she was very concerned when details of the Tallaght hospital x-ray controversy emerged while she was in New Zealand, and that the situation was "unacceptable".
