Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On Deputy Bríd Smith's question, the Minister was not around in 2008. However, he has direct responsibility for the concerns that were flagged by Dr. David Gibbons and Dr. Sam Coulter-Smith and other scientists. They went as far as resigning from the quality assurance committee over this issue. That is not insignificant. They were so concerned about the inferiority of the testing regime that would result from outsourcing it to the United States. They had evidence to back that up. I refer to number of missed positives would be significantly higher with the outsourcing.

Can the Minister tell us they were wrong? That matters not just in respect of the 208 people but in respect of every single person who has been screened and who will be screened. I have been asked to ask the Minister about the retests now being promised to anyone who wants one. Who will do the tests? Will the tests be inferior? I refer to what Dr. David Gibbons and Dr. Sam Coulter-Smith said - he is saying it as we speak - about the problems that have emerged inevitably emerging because of the difference and the mismatch between standards here and in the United States. Can the Minister assure people that they were wrong? The academy that was mentioned, the Academy of Clinical Science and Laboratory Medicine, is saying the whole thing should be repatriated now. Does the Minister agree? Should it be repatriated?

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