Advocacy groups target TDs to vote down State’s spinal services inquiry, as it excludes ‘hundreds of children’ Maeve Sheehan/ Deirdre Barry Families are preparing to mount a political campaign to establish a public tribunal of investigation into the care provided to children with spina bifida and scoliosis, after a scoping report recommended a largely private inquiry Families and advocacy groups have criticised the proposed timeframe and scope, saying they exclude a wider history of long waiting lists, young adults whose treatment began before 2019, and events leading to the commitment in 2017 by the then health minister Simon Harris that no child would wait more than four months for surgery. “Our hope would be that there are enough people in government that can see the issues, that can see the concern, that will want to do right by the families, and that they will vote it down,” she told the Sunday Independent. Ms Sherratt @GillSherratt23 said families would be seeking support from Government backbenchers. Claire Cahill, @ClarCahill co-founder of the Scoliosis Advocacy Network, described the proposed inquiry as a “commission of exclusion” and said that nothing short of a public tribunal would satisfy families. Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has defended the report’s recommendation for private sittings, on the basis that this model would encourage participation of families. However, solicitor Raymond Bradley, managing partner of Malcomson Law, said that under the recommended proposal, hundreds of families could be excluded from the process. #BackUs #JusticeforHarvey #PublicInquiryNOW #Scoliosis independent.ie/irish-news/he…

Please get behind @Stephen63224725 & @GillSherratt23 in calling for real #JusticeforHarvey and not this cover-up of an investigation

#JusticeforHarvey Shame on you, Minister @CarrollJennifer - why do you not want the public to find out what has been going on in Children’s Health Ireland? Why are you not listening to the families of the children ? #PublicInquiryCHi

FF Senator paid €16,700 in travel expenses while sick at home for eight months ✍️ Mark Tighe Tipperary-based Imelda Goldsboro, a Taoiseach’s nominee to the Seanad, has been absent since November 2025 and last spoke in the house in October of that year. The Senator has been treated for a serious illness in that time. Asked whether she would repay the €16,779 in #TAA that was paid to her in 2026, the Senator initially said she did not believe that was necessary. “I’ve been working all the time; the evidence is there,” she said. #Expenses #Oireachtas #Senator #DáilEarning @IrishTimes irishtimes.com/politics/2026…