Mr. Stephen Teap:

I wish to add to what Ms Walsh has just said and explain exactly what we mean by an independent review. To get the truth about what happened with the smear tests, there is a need to find an independent medical professional, a cytologist, to read the slides and write up a report on them. I do not know any cytologists. We do not know these people. The protocol in place in the HSE is that, in order for the slides to be released, the name and address of a cytologist to whom they are to be shipped are needed beforehand. I can speak only about myself. The only people I know in this country who have any experience of carrying out reviews of medical files or anything like that are solicitors who practice in the area of medical negligence or such a field. Those are the people one has to approach because there is no other way to do it oneself. There is no body or individual one can refer to in order to get this done.

With regard to Irene, she had two slides. It cost up to €2,000 to have them read. There was also the cost of a solicitor to co-ordinate it all for me. I was brave enough to go into the solicitor's office and ask for this to be done but I realise people fear going to the solicitor's office, and this is preventing them from getting to the truth. They fear it because of the litigation process, which we all witnessed in the case of Ruth Morrissey during the summer. People fear that they are going to be dragged straight to the High Court and that their name will be all over every newspaper in the country. Unfortunately, that has happened very many people. I know one woman who passed away without knowing the truth. The reason she did not contact a solicitor beforehand was because she was afraid she would be the next Ruth Morrissey. I was trying to explain to her husband that all he was doing was contacting a solicitor to get access to her slides, which would in turn be sent on to someone to review them. Ms Walsh has got this done and I gave got Irene's slides done. We both know now what is on the slides. In order for us to take it further, unfortunately, the system is such that we have to go to the High Court. As my solicitor's firm said to me, it has got many slides back which showed the limitations of screening. That is fine. It gave the people in question closure. Actually, they were very happy there was no foul play in their medical care. They are able to move on from that because they have got the truth.