Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Minister for Health I regularly have to deal with serious issues from the past. I will not be found wanting in terms of working with people to try to deal with these issues.

The issues raised by Deputy Joan Collins will be investigated but they will not be investigated by me.

They will be investigated by people who have an expertise in this area. They will be investigated by people who come at it from an international perspective and who can look at it in a clinical, factual and evidence-based way. That is one of the purposes of the statutory investigation, that we have something that is not something of the Government, the Department of Health or the Minister for Health but fully external to look at all these issues, including the use of laboratories.

The Deputy made the point, and I appreciate her making it, that the human papilloma virus, HPV, testing will provide an opportunity to look at how we reconfigure our laboratory services in this country. It will also necessitate, as she would know, because of the expenditure of public money, a new tender, so there will be opportunities for all these issues not only to be revisited but also to be retendered. I am also happy to keep the House updated as that progresses.

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