David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With respect to Mr. Breslin - m apologies to the Chairman - I am seething with anger. I am trying to get answers to questions. We are trying to drag information out of the HSE and the Department, minute by minute, day by day and meeting by meeting. There is a drip feed of information and Mr. Breslin is telling me what he did last week. I am asking what was done in 2016 and subsequently, when there was not just knowledge of the memos but meetings were being held to discuss the strategy to be put in place to give discretion to consultants to reduce the "volume" of dispatch. The memo also stated: "Decide on the order and volume of dispatch to mitigate any potential risks". They were concerned that some of the women would go to the media. When Mr. Breslin was before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health last week, he said, "...the judgment made was that it was not, within the gamut of issues being managed across the health service, of sufficient scale." Despite this, the memo referred to concern about the scale and volumes involved. It strikes me that Mr. Breslin is explaining away. It is quite obvious to me that the scale should have been notified to the Minister. I will ask Mr. Breslin to answer one question. The same memo referred to the HSE putting in place a communications strategy because of concerns about media headlines and that some women might go to the media. If that did happen, who would have had to go out and answer questions about the screening programme? Which person would have had to go out to do so?