Dr. Stephanie O'Keeffe:

This audit, which CervicalCheck commenced in 2010 and which was carried out on cases dating back to 2008, provides information which could be of benefit for patients. CervicalCheck knew that once it put in place procedures that would allow women to get this information and to access it directly from CervicalCheck cases would quite clearly emerge because women would be perfectly entitled to seek legal redress. It would not have been in the interest of any patient attending the cervical cancer screening programme currently or in the future for no preparation to have been done in advance for media and public statements in this regard.

I am also responsible for the HPV vaccination programme. In 2014 and 2015 we had 90% uptake in that programme for young girls. That rate plummeted to 50% two years later as a result of adverse information and misinformation in respect of the efficacy and safety of that vaccine. The reason reactive communications were prepared was to ensure that if somebody took a legal case, and it was anticipated that women would as doing this audit creates the conditions for women to take legal cases-----