Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will understand why I take my advice in respect of whether it was a good or a bad decision from other sources than Opposition politicians. The president of the National Association of General Practitioners, someone the Deputy and her party cite quite regularly as having an expert view on primary care, stated again this week that he believed it was the right decision because many women were sitting in front of GPs looking for reassurance. I will not take the committee's time repeating what I already read into the record earlier. General practitioners were put in an impossible position and if I had not taken that decision, confidence in the screening programme would have dwindled further. The Deputy and I have different views on this and I reckon we are always going to have them. I am reassured that my decision was appropriate considering the exceptional times we are in, based on what I hear from GPs and on what I hear from women who availed of this. I appreciate that the Deputy has a different view. There does seem to be a premise to the Deputy's question that had I not offered this, women were not going to seek it anyway.