Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In Ireland we have an 80% take-up rate of cervical screening. I really hope Deputy Mary Lou McDonald is correct and that this figure will not go down. I am, however, concerned that it will and that lives may be lost as a result. It is important that we get across the message again and again that cervical screening saves lives. In the past ten years there were some 50,000 anomalies identified. I will not be told to stop saying that; I will keep saying it because I care about women's health and women's lives. A lot of allegations have been made and they need to be investigated. I can guarantee that there will be a statutory inquiry to investigate whether the allegations being made are true. This is not just about targeting individuals or looking for heads to roll. I have mentioned that there has already been a resignation of one person who is no longer in their position. This is not about targeting one head, another head and then another. It is about the women who have been affected and their health. That is why the first and most important thing we are doing is getting a team of expert cytopathologists, led by the Royal College of Obstetricians, to look again at all of the smear tests of all of the women who have been diagnosed with cervical cancer in the past ten years. This clinical review will be carried out and done by the end of May.

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