Ms Marie Culliton:

Correct. For someone to be able to do cytology, he or she must be doing a minimum number of smear slides per year, both positive and negative. It is not an automated system - one must keep an eye in and maintain one's competence. Once the work left the country, the scientists in Ireland no longer had the material to work with to maintain their competence. The decision to outsource the service was a decision to outsource it permanently. This was warned about at the time.