Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I asked before about the baseline from which we were operating. Today it was mentioned that colposcopy samples were blended in with regular smears. To me, that results in baseline distortion and one is just going to get bad data. This morning there is a big light shining on that distortion. I asked the question before of the HSE, when we were trying to get to where Dr. Scally got in his investigation, but it was pretty much dismissed. There is a concern that the baseline is distorted and that the limitation on one's testing is a 30% failure rate. The audit process has been stopped. Let us take as an example a person who has had two false negatives such as the tragic case of the lady who is being buried today. I do not believe we can have confidence in the 30% rate if the figures have been distorted by colposcopy slides. Am I correct? If a cohort of 100 definitely have cancer, that will mess up the figures.