Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the delegates and thank them for attending.

The main concern for women throughout Ireland who have been and continue to be tested is the accuracy of the tests. There is a widespread belief the service offered by the US labs was not as good and potentially is not as good as the service offered in Ireland. That really is what women to whom I am talking want to know. Was a decision taken, based on cost, to knowingly outsource to laboratories which produced less accurate results? I was hoping we might get the delegates’ views on that matter.

The academy is the professional and expert body. It has stated it cannot comment on the quality metrics.

Yet, we have the quality metrics. The HSE provided the quality metrics several weeks ago. I have had the quality metrics examined by experts. The HSE has had the quality metrics examined by experts. The HSE has stated categorically that there is no difference in quality in identifying pre-cancerous or cancerous cells. The chief medical officer has stated that categorically and the clinical director of the HSE has stated that categorically. The independent expert I spoke to looked at the data. He said that while it would be great to have more data, the data the HSE released showed no difference in quality. If there is a difference in quality, we need to know and women in Ireland need to know. Given that the data have been in the public domain for several weeks and that the purpose of this Oireachtas meeting is to get a view on the quality issues, will the academy representatives address this question? I acknowledge there are labour and capacity issues and that these are important to the academy. In any event, the women of Ireland want to know whether they are being screened by substandard laboratories. Every expert we have had before the committee has stated categorically that there is no quality issue. The data provided seem to suggest there is no quality issue. The academy representatives have said they have no opinion on whether there is a quality issue. Why do they have no opinion? The data are in the public domain and this is the point of this Oireachtas meeting. Why can they not comment on the quality metrics? That is the purpose of our meeting, the data are in the public domain and that is what women in Ireland want to know.