Mr. Damien McCallion:

The stages were as follows. First we had to build the link with the National Cancer Registry, which was one of the gaps that identified 1,702 women who were eligible, and it was necessary to establish next-of-kin in many situations. Then we moved to a consent process of writing to everyone and giving a second option. There was a support line and a system built to manage all that. We are now in the phase when in recent weeks the laboratories have started moving slides to the RCOG. As Mr. Breslin said, it has committed that it will take it six months to conclude on receipt of the slides. The slides have started moving to the RCOG in recent weeks and will continue in batches over coming weeks. A total of 1,072 women have consented to partake in the audit. I do not have an exact figure here but probably several thousand slides will need to be moved, as each woman may have several slides.