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

That is something that I raised at this committee during our first session. For reasons that I will not go into now, I am someone who has had occasion to engage on a regular basis with the service. I know the limitations, because I asked my doctor and my doctor knew. Dr. Peter McKenna did not know, though. The first time I asked him, he gave an assessment of 10%. According to the literature that was distributed, no screening test is ever perfect. It is good that there has been a discussion so that everyone understands, but women who asked their doctors could have found that out. It is unfortunate that information was not available in this room on that day when we asked the question. It is readily available to everyone now, which is probably a good thing. Anyone who would have had occasion to ask would have been told by her doctor something that the head of the women and infants programme did not know. He put the figure at 10%. There is a great deal of information in the public domain now, which is a good thing because women in particular are able to ask questions. Judging from Ms Walsh's submission in particular, though, it seems that women can keep asking questions but will still not be listened to. That is regrettable and has to change. We cannot continue in this vein.

Mr. Teap referred to "a proper, structured, patient representative platform". Clearly, it does not exist at the minute, but what would that forum look like, who would be on it and, more importantly, how would it be resourced? I am conscious that much of the work that has been done was done in the witnesses' own time and at their own expense. People have to be free to participate and they must be supported. Will Mr. Teap give us an idea of what "a proper, structured, patient representative platform" would and should look like?