Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept that. The July memo states that the national screening service "met with one of the laboratories in May 2016 and legal correspondence has ceased since that meeting." The question I would have to ask is, what was said at that meeting to reassure the laboratories? I am presuming and I do not want to be presuming. That is why I am asking the question. There must have been something said at that meeting between the national screening service and the laboratories in May 2016 which allayed their fears and the laboratory in question then decided not to pursue any further legal correspondence. That is one question and I do not know whether anyone in this room has the answer to it. What was said at that meeting? Were assurances given to the laboratories? Was the open disclosure protocol or policy which was to be rolled out, that we discussed earlier, relayed to the laboratories? I do not know the answer to that and maybe somebody here might.

The other point I want to clarify is the numbers. The two July memos or briefing notes that we got contain two different figures. That may be because one dates from the start of July and the other dates from the end of July. We do not know because they are not dated. It only states "July". One is for 256 and the other is for 286. I am just looking for some information on this. We now are dealing with 209 women. What happened to the other letters? Who were they being sent to? If the HSE is saying we have 209 women who needed to be informed, either through their clinician or directly, where are the figures of 286 and 256 coming from and how did we get from those figures down to 209? That is my second question.

My third question relates to a paragraph in the July memo on the amount of correspondence which will have to be sent out.

It says that from September 2016, letters communicating the cytology review findings are likely to issue at a rate of four to six per month. There was either 256 or 286 letters, but in both memos it says there are approximately 200 letters left to be issued, at a rate of four to six per month. Even if the higher figure of six is taken, it would take two years and seven months.