Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is trying to conflate issues and say I made a decision against advice. I made a decision to do the appropriate thing that I was requested to do by GPs and by women at the height of a crisis, and that decision, I believe to this day, was the appropriate decision in a crisis. I regret extremely that there are women waiting a long time. That is why we have been working night and day with the HSE to source additional capacity. This committee heard very clearly last week from Damien McCallion, another person who has worked tirelessly through this time, about the efforts of the HSE to identify additional capacity, and it has done so. This week, as we are speaking, quality assurance and negotiations are going on regarding bringing that extra capacity on stream. If - I can only say "if" at this moment because I need hear back from the HSE - we can get this capacity on stream, I expect the backlog to be significantly and overwhelmingly reduced during the summer months. That is what my focus has to be on. The Deputy is not suggesting this, in fairness, but obviously we have different turnaround times in different laboratories. Some of our laboratories are turning around these tests in three to four weeks, some in six to seven weeks, and in the case of one laboratory, there is a very long wait. Of that there is no doubt.

The clinical risk, because it is important for women watching these proceedings outside the politics of all this, we are told by people like Dr. Peter McKenna is negligible and very low, but that does not mean it is not stressful for people waiting. I fully accept that. We will work night and day to resolve this situation. However, I believe, and I think many women believe, that in a crisis they did not need any politician to tweet or to make any decision. They were going to seek reassurance themselves with their doctor. The question was whether I made them pay for it. I felt, after the significant disrespect that had been shown to women in terms of how the audit had been carried out, that the appropriate thing for the State to do was to fund this. What I will do and what I have asked the HSE to do is to keep this committee very closely apprised, and I would welcome the members' co-operation in terms of working as we try to bring this extra capacity on stream. I know that is what we all want and I am hopeful that we can see progress in that in a very short period.