Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

To be honest, I do not think the Minister is taking this matter at all seriously. I asked him when his attention was drawn to this issue. He has advised me that he read about it in the media. It strikes me as odd that his officials have not kept him informed about this problem, especially because multi-party actions in this respect are under way in a number of other countries. We discussed such class actions, as they are also known, in the House last night. I raised this matter over a month ago and I am doing so again today because I think we should all be worried about it. The complications as a result of this device need to be addressed immediately.

I welcome the fact that the chief medical officer will compile a report. It is worrying that we cannot put our hands on the number of these devices that have been used. If we were standing here talking about trans-penile mesh or a men's health issue, we would not be having this conversation. It is outrageous that there is no register of the number of devices that have been used and the women who have used these devices so that at least we would know what the scale of the problem might be. More people are going to come forward as this issue receives more attention.

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