Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This scandal is and will go down in this State's history as one of the worst instances of serious medical neglect, particularly of women, along with the ingrained culture in the health service to deny and cover up this scandal. The response of the health service to the hepatitis C scandal, the deaths of babies in Portlaoise hospital, the cases of national maternal deaths and catastrophic injuries, symphysiotomy etc. has been to admit nothing and make patients jump through emotional and financial hoops to prove their case. That has been the history of this State.

The HSE eventually came out yesterday and confirmed at least 208 women, who have since been diagnosed with cervical cancer, were initially told their tests were negative, and of those, 17 women have died. In 173 cases women would have been given a different clinical treatment if earlier smears had been read correctly and 162 of the 208 were not told a review had been conducted by CervicalCheck or of the outcome. Cian O'Carroll, the solicitor acting for Vicky Phelan, for whom I have huge respect and admiration - we should be not only angry but livid about what is after happening in these cases - believes all 1,482 cases should be subjected to independent review.

Could this situation have been prevented? In 2008, the then Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government made a political decision to outsource our smear testing to private companies overseas. Why? It was because they made a political decision of not resourcing the services here. Sam Coulter-Smith, a former master of the Rotunda Hospital, said he warned the Government a decade ago against testing being moved to private companies overseas because he was worried that resulting problems would mean cancer cases being missed. He said: "Our cytology system in the Rotunda Hospital, which was well developed, fully accredited and world class, with very good quality assurance systems in place and numerous people analysing smears - two looks rather than one - the quality assurance was at a much higher level than the US."

Dr. David Gibbons, who was chair of the cytology-histology group within the national cervical screening programme, with a number of his peers, has stated that they raised with the then CEO of the National Cancer Screening Service, Tony O'Brien, their serious concerns. He said he warned Tony O'Brien when he saw the figures from the United States were showing one third fewer high grade dysplasias compared with Ireland. It was 1.8 in Ireland and 1.2 in the US. He was concerned about a mismatch of systems. Ireland tests for cervical cancer every three years where the US system would test annually. He predicted in 2008 that up to 1,000 women per year would be affected and that this would become apparent in ten to 15 years down the line.

That has happened. It is a reality for the women affected by these reviews and it must be seriously taken on board. Somebody has to be answerable for this. People in this country are sick and tired of these cases. In the hepatitis C case the CEO walked away with a gold-plated pension and people like Brigid McCole had to go to the courts to fight their cases.

I reiterate the call from the Sinn Féin Deputy that Tony O'Brien or somebody should be held to account. The political system should be held to account for this as well. An international peer review is being done on the screening. The Taoiseach said approximately half are done in the United States or outside the country and the other half are done here. We should have a clinical assessment of the exact number that came from the US and from here.

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