Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not have a monopoly on that. I have heard the Deputy saying that as well. It is more useful if I say a few sentences before she comes back in. Even if we are saying that our screening programme is really important, I think it causes unnecessary alarm to express concern about where smears are being sent and about the validity of the results from there. I do not believe the Deputy intends to do that. She has been very responsible in regard to all of this. She knows a lot about it. I fully accept that there are legitimate issues to be raised regarding the laboratories we use. It is also important to say that these laboratories are accredited. According to a note that has been posted tonight on the frequently asked questions section of www.cervicalcheck.ie, "the laboratory involved in the case reported in the media, CPL, is not one of the laboratories currently used by CervicalCheck". The website names the three laboratories that are used: Quest Diagnostics in New Jersey, MedLab Pathology in Dublin and the Coombe Women and Infants Hospital in Dublin. That is the factual information today. As I said in my opening speech, when we move to HPV screening we will have an opportunity to reconfigure our laboratory services as well. The Deputy can question officials from the HSE on what was audited when they are at her disposal at the joint committee tomorrow. This matter will also be considered by the inquiry. When I speak as Minister for Health about the laboratories we are using, I have to say that countries like the US are not exactly the wild west in terms of medical technology. A great deal of progress has been made since the programme was set up and it was decided to outsource some testing to these laboratories, which was not a decision made by me. We have gone from a situation pre-programme where we had 300,000 smears in Ireland to one where we have 250,000 smears. We have gone from a situation pre-programme where the programme was showing no benefit in relation to mortality to one where we see mortality reducing by 7% a year. We have gone from a programme of no clinical audit to one of clinical audit.

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