Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a serious issue and I do not intend to engage in a shouting match on it. Deputy Boyd Barrett should note that there are mistakes and errors made in this country and in many different countries. The Deputy has a viewpoint - others agree with him – that sending this screening service or the reading of the smears to the United States was a mistake. Deputy Boyd Barrett has asked several questions of people who are not here to defend themselves or to explain or account for their policy rationale at the time. The Deputy has accused me of not doing anything in this regard. What I am doing as Minister is taking a decision to introduce HPV testing. That will make us one of the first countries in the world to do this. It will save more lives and reduce false negatives. Moreover, it will provide us with an opportunity to reconfigure our laboratory services - I have said as much several times today – and look at all of it.

Second, I am putting forward the legitimate issues, whether I agree with them or disagree with them. I have no reason to believe the standard in the US laboratories is in any way lesser than the standard here. No quality assurance issue has been raised with me by my officials. I am putting all of those questions into a robust international external review so that they can be answered factually rather than what could end up being a tit for tat about different political views on an important matter.

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