Dr. Stephanie O'Keeffe:

It is important. Deputy Connolly was not at the last meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts that she referenced. The transcript of that meeting and the previous meeting of the Joint Committee on Health addressed all those issues in full. The purpose of the briefings requested and shared with the director general and the Department was to explain the matter to those people. They would have received a verbal briefing in advance, at the same time as they received a written briefing, to the effect that the CervicalCheck programme was conducting the audit and that those responsible had come to the point where they wished to communicate the findings to women.