Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The data in the medical journal to which Deputy Reilly refers was published prior to 2002.

The company in question acquired a lot of laboratory facilities. It has been growing by acquisition, which is why it is the biggest in the field. The payments issues with the authorities in the United States centre on the laboratories that have been acquired. The company is accredited by the authorities in the United States. It does work in the US and for the NHS in the United Kingdom. Even if the preferred bidder did not proceed, I am not certain that the next on the list is an Irish laboratory. I am not certain of that. There seems to be an assumption that if we can get these people off the pitch, through some interference in the tendering process, then one of our own laboratories will suddenly succeed.

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