Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is important because there is a narrative being put out that because a free smear test was offered to women, everyone who went to their GP ended up getting a smear. We now know that 50% did not get a smear test. This is a personal opinion but if the Minister had not done what he did at that time in real time, given where we were in terms of confidence in the screening programme, I probably would have been calling for his head. I do not have an issue with the decision taken. There were consequences subsequently in terms of the capacity of the system to facilitate that.