Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today people are trying to make sense of how profoundly the State has failed the women affected by the cervical cancer scandal. A total of 208 women went for a vital screening for a life-threatening illness and were wrongly given the all clear, of whom 162 were not told about this devastating error. I understand some of them have still not been contacted, but if I have that wrong, the Taoiseach might correct it for me. Of course, for some of the women affected by the scandal there will be no telephone call, no news, no disclosure and no truth because 17 of them are dead. They passed away not knowing that their cancer should have been caught earlier, that their treatment programmes, prognosis and possibly outcomes could have been different. They died unaware that this information was known to the HSE and others. They had been kept in the dark, not because of some communication error but because of a toxic culture of concealment within the HSE and a refusal to take responsibility, a culture in which women were literally allowed to die before fault was admitted. Vicky Phelan's solicitor has described what he regards as a cover-up within the HSE.

The root of the scandal is found in the decision in 2008 to outsource screening. At the time the Government was told of the dangers of this move, that it would jeopardise women's' health and their lives, but it went ahead with it. Subsequently the flaws in the system were highlighted, not least by members of the quality assurance committee. Members of that committee resigned in protest because their words had fallen on deaf ears. They had fallen on the deaf ear of Mr. Tony O'Brien, formerly of CervicalCheck and now chief executive officer of the HSE. He knew this information but did nothing about it. His position is untenable and he needs to go. If he does not, the Taoiseach needs to sack him-----

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