Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Chairman, that is the information that I was looking for. This is reassuring, and this is where confidence can grow from. Without that we will waste our time. I appreciate that information. It is very useful and it can be used to good effect in the future to restore that vital confidence in the system. Once we have that, the women who have tests in this country will certainly have confidence in the system. We are very sorry about the kind of pressure that the system had to work under over the last few years. It is difficult to be under the microscope all the time, and to be criticised all the time. It is difficult to restore any confidence in the system while that scrutiny is going on. It is also difficult to retain staff in that system. The confrontational nature of the business and the politics surrounding it is such that it puts pressure on a lot of people, in an area that can have its own sensitive pressures at the same time. We recognise that, but we also recognise the things that we have to do to address the issues. I refer to the weakness in the system and where the system went wrong and failed to deliver, reassure, and inform women. This goes back to full and frank information and full disclosure. This is hugely important, Chairman. If we are to learn one lesson, that has to be about the need for full disclosure and the need to apply it across the board.