Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I hear what Dr. Doherty is saying but her professional opinion was sought by the committee. On the one hand she has said decisions must be evidence-driven and safe but on the other she is suggesting that public pressure is sufficient to justify a decision. All I am saying is I disagree on the point. It is the responsibility of being in Cabinet. It is a privilege to serve in Cabinet but a responsibility comes with it. Decisions taken have an impact and consequences. One must always base those decisions on evidence and not populism or public pressure. The right decision must be taken for those who are affected and whom one serves and looks after. In all of the chaos and madness, we must always revert to making the right decisions based on the right reasons. The decision of the Minister at the time was not correct and it was not based on the right reasons. When asked for a professional opinion, the witness would be well within her rights to say that. That is how we learn from such situations.

Mr. McCallion has again spoken about exploring options and working through the process but it is now April 2019. This decision was taken last May and the backlog was becoming evident in August. We have known about this for quite some time. It is no longer acceptable to say we are working through the process. I do not accept that the witness cannot outline details to the committee as he knew why he had to come before us today. I am asking for definite timelines. When will the backlog be cleared? The HSE should be able to answer that. If the witnesses know the capacity in the two labs where improvements have been made, with one seeing turnaround in four to five weeks and one seeing them in seven to eight weeks, it is not acceptable to not know where MedLab is at this point. Rather than reverting to me personally, I ask that the witnesses revert to the Chairman and that it be circulated to all members. The HSE should tell the public immediately what is happening with those negotiations and when the backlog will be cleared.

If the HSE cannot provide that information today, we need a decision from it regarding the out-of-cycle smear tests of women who are already in the system. Is it going to continue to issue letters to come back in after the three-year period is up? Is it going to continue to add to the system without the capacity being in place? That is its decision to make, not mine. For those 80,000 who comprise the backlog and who have had repeat tests and are awaiting results, nobody should be getting the routine letter I received last January. The HSE needs to look at that. If it was not aware of the position, it should have been.