Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did review the decision. I want to give the Deputy the correct date. If I do not have it I will revert to her. From my memory, I think it was in October after the publication of the Scally report. I will confirm the timeline for the Deputy because I do not have it before me and I do not want to mislead her. From my recollection it was in October post the publication of the Scally report. The Scally report had stated definitively that our screening programme was safe and that we could continue using the labs we were using. I felt that was a very big part of reassurance. I would have conveyed my decision to the HSE that I now wanted to end the out-of-cycle smear tests at the appropriate opportunity. It was agreed operationally that that would be in December because many women would have booked in for smear tests because three months need to elapse.