David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I get that. My time is very tight. I am very sorry. I have one and a half minutes left and I want to come back on that point. If a woman believes a full removal is best for her, it seems that one of the few options, or maybe the only option, is to travel abroad to have it removed. The HSE is saying it fully supports that and will support her through the reimbursement scheme or the treatment abroad scheme. However, this is what one of the women said today in her opening statement, and I will address to Mr. Kidd and Dr. Murphy. She wrote that, "for HSE healthcare patients the treatment abroad scheme is illusory" and that "the system is stacked against them". In the view of Mesh Ireland, "patients who reject the HSE surgical preferences will only receive ... lip-service support when they ask HSE consultants to provide necessary documentation to support their application for the public healthcare treatment abroad scheme" and that the approach is "like it or lump it" and "partial removals or nothing". I will read the last paragraph of the statement, which is important:

...the HSE’s official position that there is not just one but many surgeons who perform this operation locally means that the treatment abroad scheme pathway is a fool's errand. The door was never really open. The HSE conducts an automated appeal. Rejection follows. The door is bolted. From the inside.

That does not suggest to me that this is an option for many women. They feel that it is very restrictive and that they do not get supported if they want to get treatment abroad.