David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The issue here is that these 208 women were not told. That was a systemic decision taken by the HSE. Mr. O'Brien is responsible for systemic decisions taken within his organisation. The real scandal here was the response to that systemic failure and that women were not told. Mr. O'Brien has heard that Ms Mhic Mhathúna was on "Morning Ireland" this morning. It was very harrowing interview. This is a woman who had to tell her five children that she is going to die. Obviously she is very emotional. She told Teachta Mary Lou McDonald, who raised this issue in the Dáil yesterday, that she is more angry than she is worried about her death. It is a very personal tragedy for her.

Ms Mhic Mhathúna was told in 2013 that her smear test was normal. Three years later, following a routine smear test, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. The audit of the 2013 result showed that, in Ms Mhic Mhathúna's case, the first indications of cancer were already there. She was never told. It was the same for Vicky Phelan and Irene Teap. We also heard from Stephen Teap. I would imagine it was the same for many more women. Ms Mhic Mhathúna, Ms Phelan and Mr. Teap have all asked Mr. O'Brien to resign because, unlike him, they understand accountability and that this was a systemic failure.

The reason Mr. O'Brien is paid the salary he is paid is because the buck stops with him. He is responsible for systemic failures. That is why he is in this position, why the post carries a heavy responsibility and why he is on the salary he is on. He is responsible for the actions of the corporate body of the HSE. I will say one more thing and then I will let Mr. O'Brien come back in.

Mr. O'Brien yesterday described the director general as the one person who must be personally accountable for every failure or mistake of 140,000 individuals who work in the health service and stated that that is not the basis for accountability. Nobody is asking Mr. O'Brien to be personally accountable for the actions of 140,000 individuals. We ask him to be accountable for a clear and systemic failure in the HSE not to communicate that information to 208 women who today are very angry. The failure to communicate is not the only matter that is causing hysteria. The hysteria has been caused by the systemic failures in Mr. O'Brien's organisation. The fact that, even today, Mr. O'Brien does not recognise that there were systemic failures and that he should take responsibility for that rings alarm bells for me. There is no doubt that Vicky Phelan, Emma Mhic Mhathúna and Stephen Teap are correct that Mr. O'Brien should step down. That would be the first step in he and the HSE taking accountability for systemic failures, although not responsibility for the actions of individuals.