Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There was reference earlier to how this decision was taken and what exactly was offered to women. I took the liberty of checking on Twitter. The Minister tweeted:

Have heard from many women today who have had smear tests & would like a repeat test to reassure them. Am arranging for this facility to be available & the State will meet the cost of the repeat test. Arrangements on how this will operate will be outlined next week.

The public announcement from the Minister was that anyone who wanted a test would get one. It was nothing to do with bedside decisions, a doctor or anything like that. He offered a free test to any woman who wanted one.

It is now clear he had not done any homework and, indeed, was going against the only available clinical advice. He either got that advice and ignored it or he did not get it. It is concerning, whichever it might be. Dr. Doherty is now the head of the programme. I am sure it is concerning for her that her predecessor gave advice and it was ignored. Will she comment on that? She is going to be the lead in this area. If she raises an issue of concern with the Minister, or senior officials in the Department, does she expect she will be taken seriously or does she expect her advice to be ignored in the same way?